


Dance with the Devil

by andrea_readwolf



Series: A Matter of Heart: Dance of the Heart Arc [4]
Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2000-07-11
Updated: 2000-07-11
Packaged: 2020-01-11 06:59:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 36,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18425289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andrea_readwolf/pseuds/andrea_readwolf
Summary: Part 2 of the Dance of the Heart Arc, A Matter of Heart SeriesIt's December 195AC, episodes 44-49... The story picks up where it left off at the end of "Have You Ever", and the G-Boys must face a whole new horde of problems, while dealing with the rift between Heero, Duo and Wufei threatening to tear them apart.This is the second story of the 'Dance of the Heart' story arc and the sequel to 'Have You Ever...'





	Dance with the Devil

### Part 1: Navigators

 

It was dark inside the lounge, despite the bright Florida sunshine that attempted to pour through the curtained windows. The lingering scent of incense and cigarette smoke hung in the air, leftovers from the night before. The couches and chairs that populated the lounge had seen better days, but they were comfortable and well appreciated by the teenagers and young adults who frequented this place. In one corner, there was a pool table, a low light hanging overhead. Two teenagers, sixteen or seventeen, were playing a game, the balls cracking together loudly in the otherwise quiet lounge. Music drifted through the room, too soft to really make out the words, but the beat was steady and sensuous, seductive almost, hypnotic. Six sleek vid-screens lined one wall, portals to the outside world for those who came here to escape it.

But the most intoxicating appeal of the room drifted up from behind the counter, from the hot cups of flavored coffees that warmed chilled hands.

"Hi, welcome to Navigators. Can I get you something to drink? Maybe a snack?" a young woman asked, smiling at him in an inviting way. She was squatted down next to him as he sat on a couch. He looked at her for a moment and then looked away, eyes returning to the front door. "Maybe one of our daily specials?" she tried.

"What do you have?" he asked finally, his voice low and throaty for one so young she thought.

"Today's a French Cappuccino, Coffee--"

"That's fine."

She blinked, and then smiled again. "A French Cappuccino? Sure thing. Small or large?"

He looked at her again, and then looked away. "Surprise me," he replied.

She studied him a minute longer before shaking her head and getting up to get his drink. "Sure, sure," she mumbled from behind the counter.

He didn't notice. He handed her a couple of crumpled up bills though when she returned, thanking her off-handedly. Then he settled back into the couch cushions with his cappuccino to wait.

He wasn't really sure why he was here. Really, it was stupid and foolhardy. A risk he had no business taking. But he was here anyway. In this little coffee lounge in some little town in the middle of Florida, waiting.

Steam rose up from his cup and in its foggy dance, he thought he saw a familiar body, writhing.

He frowned, swallowing.

It had been over a week since he'd walked away from the last safe house---one of Quatre's many homes. Over a week since he'd walked into the room that had been labeled 'his'... only to find two other people there... laying on his bed... wrapped together in a very compromising position... His lover... and his friend.

No. That wasn't right. He didn't have a lover. And friends were only allies for a period of time. He had neither now. Once again, working on his own. He knew they were looking for him. Or, at least two of them were. He found their searches, and led them on a merry chase.

He didn't want to be found.

And, until this day, no one had a clue where to find him.

Until this day... this day... yeah, he was here, waiting in this little coffee lounge... Waiting to meet a woman who, eight days ago had been his captor.

Yeah. He was nuts.

The door to the lounge opened then, and a petite young woman entered, unwrapping the cream scarf from her neck and face. Dark eyes scanned the room quickly before spotting him. She smiled, and then began making her way over to him at the back of the lounge.

"You're looking good," she greeted lightly, her dark eyes roaming over him from head to toe. "Very good," she added appreciatively.

He nodded, but didn't reply, instead, choosing to take a sip from the sweet tasting stuff in his cup.

"Viv, I'll take a Café Latte over here," she called to the waitress behind the counter before slipping down next to him on the couch.

"Sure thing, Nita!"

"So, how's the shoulder?" Nita asked, eyeing the long sleeved shirt.

He shifted, the tight bandages hidden by the heavy cotton shirt shifting and pulling against the gunshot wound. "Fine," he answered.

The waitress arrived with Nita's coffee and then left, leaving them in a tense moment of silence. "I appreciate you agreeing to see me like this."

"What makes you think it's not a trap?" he asked tensely.

She smiled. "I could ask the same thing of you, but I think we'll both agree it's not."

He was quiet, contemplating his cappuccino. "You said you needed my help," he said finally.

"Yes." She studied him, the tight jeans that encased muscular legs, the navy blue long-sleeved shirt that fit him to a tee, the dark, messy hair that looked almost styled that way on purpose. She could easily see why her sisters were so interested in him. He was, after, a fine specimen of the male species--and he didn't look all that young, either.

He looked at her, Prussian eyes telling her to continue.

"I have a file I'm interested in gaining access to..." she began...

 

###  Part 2: Disputes

 

It had been over a week. Over a week and he was still angry. No. He was furious. Raging mad. And his fury was taken out on poor, unsuspecting mobile suits. Slews of them fell beneath Death's scythe. Legions. Oz, Romerfeller, White Fang. They all suffered his fury. His rage.

"Oiya! Duo! That's enough for today! We're gonna have enough trouble hauling all this scrap in as it is!"

"Roger that, Rex! I'm turning in!" the braided pilot of 02 called through his com before whirling the dark gundam around and heading back to L2. All around him floated scrape. A mobile suit graveyard. An hour before it had been a squad of soldiers.

 

 

The cold spray of the shower rained down over him. The tiny pinpoints, needles against his skin. He didn't care. The colder the better. Besides, it was still water, and his memories from childhood were still fresh enough that even this luxury--as shower everyday--was well appreciated.

"Oiya! Duo! Don't stay in there too long! Your dinner will get cold!"

"I hear ya, Hilde! Thanks!" he called as the freezing water rained down over his bare skin, completely soaking the braid that slap and clung to his ass. He stood there for another minute, letting the water wash away the ickiness he felt, before reaching for the soap bar and scrubbing at it.

He emerged twenty minutes later: hair washed, cleaned, and rebraided; skin pink and shiny; manic grin firmly in place. "Oh, Man! Hilde, this looks great!"

"I could set any old charred piece of flesh in front of you and you'd think it's great," the short, dark-haired teen replied, flashing him a smile before sitting down at her own plate.

Duo just laughed at her. "You're probably right--but that doesn't mean I wouldn't enjoy every minute of it!" He winked and she laughed.

"Eat up before it's no good," she ordered. He promptly did as he was told, digging in and cooing in delight about how good it was. All his compliments rolled off her like water off a duck. It wasn't that she thought he was teasing her or was insincere. She knew he liked the food she made him, and it pleased her that she could do something for the colonies--even if it was only making sure that this one pilot had enough to eat. But right now, there was something heavier pressing on her mind.

"So... you gonna tell me what's going on?" she asked, watching him put his dishes in the sink.

"What cha mean?" he asked without turning around to face her. He ran the water hot and watched the flowing stream wash away the crumbs left on his plate.

"I mean... why you back here, and by yourself, Duo?" She tried to sit calmly in her seat, to not show how anxious she was about the answer. "You just show up here one day, saying you need a place to crash, and here I thought you and the other Gundam pilots had teamed up or something!"

The water turned off. "Do you want me to go?" he asked lowly. "'Cause if you do, just say the word, Hilde, and I'm gone."

"NO! Dammit, Duo!" she frowned. "You know you're more than welcome here, anytime. I just wanna know what's going on! Is that too much to ask?"

"Right now...?" He looked over his shoulder; she caught the corner of one violet eye. "Right now, yeah, it is." He wiped his hands dry on a dishtowel, tossing it back down on the counter without folding it. "If you'll excuse me, I think I'm gonna go check on Deathscythe right now."

His voice caught, cracked. The kitchen door banged shut behind him.

"Duo... what's going on...?" Hilde questioned the empty room.

 

 

He was running the fifth diagnostics check when a message came in. He spared a glance at its origins before flipping a switch.

"Hey, Q-man! How's Hawaii?" he chirped, putting out the charm.

The blond and very-red boy on the screen beamed up at him. "Duo! Hawaii was... interesting. Definitely a worthwhile trip. Where are you guys? Trowa and I thought you'd all be here when we got back..."

"Well, I'm up in L2 right now," the braided boy answered, flopping his braid over one shoulder so he could play with the end. "Not sure where Wu-man and Perfect Soldier-boy are hidin' out right now. We--uh, decided we needed to get outta the place." Duo forced a smile for his friend and co-pilot.

But Quatre was frowning. "I don't understand... Didn't..."

"Hey, Q-man, I'm sorry but, uh, I'd really rather not talk about it right now, kay?" The end of the braid was being twisted around one finger.

"Uh, okay, sure, Duo, if that's what you want," Quatre returned, but the blond boy was clearly not satisfied. "Do you have anything interesting to report?" he changed the subject instead.

"Yeah, actually. Glad you asked." Duo typed in a command and sent battle footage of some of his most recent encounters. "Things have been getting pretty busy up here. Me-thinks someone's planning a little surprise party."

Quatre frowned, watching the footage. "Hmmm... it does seem a little heavy, huh?"

"I'd say..."

"Well, Trowa's going up tomorrow. He'll be on L3 and can help you out," Quatre said, his mind clearly chasing down other thoughts. "I'll make sure he has where he can reach you."

"Thanks, Q-man, but it ain't necessary."

"Maybe not, but still, it would make me feel better knowing you weren't facing anything alone," Quatre returned. He looked directly into the link then, marine eyes catching on amethyst. "Don't do anything crazy up there, Duo."

The braided boy's maniacal grin spread. "Who? Me?" One violet eye winked. "I'll be a good little boy, I promise," he said. "You watch your back, too, Q-man. I'll see you on the flip side!" he wrapped up with a nod before flipping the switch.

He sat in the cockpit for several minutes, just staring at the blank screen. "Heero... Wufei... what are you guys up to...?" 

 

### Part 3: Meditation at the Mountain

 

He had wandered for six days before finding himself here, in the mountains of China. I suppose it was inevitable that here is where he would wind up. Here, where he had come nearly a year ago after his duel with Treize Khushrenada. Here, where nearly a year in time he would come again to say goodbye to Nataku and self-destruct Gundam 05, Atlong. Here, where, in all of earth and the colonies, he could find peace, within and without himself. Here, his own where in the world, the only place he felt he could truly be by himself.

Only, he wasn't by himself.

Hundreds of miles away from any living soul, Chang Wufei was still haunted by one. By Death. Or, rather, by the boy who called himself Death. Shinigami. Duo Maxwell.

If he was honest with himself, the boy had been haunting him for more than just weeks now. The events of a week ago had only succeeded in escalating an already dangerous situation. It was like lighting a match to gunpowder, no wick attached.

And everyone had been burned.

 

 

One Week Prior

Outside the sun glistened off fat raindrops--the only testament to last night's storm. The teakettle whistled, stirring him from his musings as he stared out the kitchen window. He was already on his third cup by the time Duo managed to crawl away from the shower.

The braided boy yawned, one arm thrown over his head as he stretched, his other hand inching the white t-shirt he'd tossed on this morning high up his torso, flashing a good stretch of what could have been a six pack--if the boy would just exercise some. Onyx eyes narrowed, drawn to that tantalizing flash of skin like a moth to a flame. He was doing it on purpose, he knew it. He had to. There was no way the other *couldn't* know the effect he had on him.

"What?" Duo asked when he realized Wufei was staring at him. "Is there a stain on my shirt or sompt'ing?" He took Wufei's ‘hmphf' as a ‘no' and went over to the fridge to rummage up some food.

Wufei closed his eyes and swallowed a groan... but it was too late. Even behind his closed lids he could see Duo's tantalizing rear end as the braided-boy bent over, the smiley-faced cloth stretching tight, molding--

"Yo, Wufei? You alright?"

Onyx eyes blinked open to see Duo waving a hand in front of his face. "I'm fine," he growled, moving away from the hands and taking another sip of tea. Off-handedly, he noted the tea didn't taste as good as he imagined Duo's fingers were. ‘Pull it together, Chang,' he scolded.

Duo shrugged and plopped down at one of the chairs, setting a bowl of--

"You're not seriously going to eat that for breakfast, are you?" Wufei frowned.

Violet eyes flew to Wufei's face, at first surprised, and then they narrowed as a smirk pulled at Duo's lips. Lifting the spoon, opening his mouth, lips closing around the spoon... "Mmmm...." Duo hummed.

~~ Damn! What he wouldn't give to be that spoon right now! Aah! No! Bad thought! Bad thought! Must stay focused! ~~

Onyx eyes snapped shut again as Wufei desperately tried to regain his compo--

~~ Do you think he'd mind if you fucked him on the kitchen table? ~~

\--sure. Unfortunately, his hormones weren't cooperating.

"I wonder what's taking Heero so long," Duo's voice broke into his thoughts. "I'd thought he'd be back by now..."

And suddenly he went cold, all thoughts of a sexual interlude leaving him. Wufei licked his lips, taking another sip of tea. "He did come back," he said, softly so his voice wouldn't crack. He realized he was avoiding Duo's face and forced himself to look at the other.

"He's here? But then--"

"No," Wufei corrected, swallowing, still not sure... still not comfortable... "He *was* here." He looked away, not able to look at Duo's face any more. "He left, Duo. He came and then he left. He even took his things."

Duo stared at Wufei, his mind splitting off into two sections: one spinning around in confusion, the other racing forward with accusations. He wasn't sure which one to follow. "Wait a minute," he said, more for himself than for the Chinese boy sitting across from him. "You're tellin' me that Heero was here, and then he just left? Without saying a ‘hi, I'm home, I didn't self-destruct'?"

Wufei found that his voice would not work, so he just nodding.

"You're shitting me!" Duo pushed away from the table, the chair falling onto its side behind him. "Why the hell would he--"

Onyx eyes pierced into him, cutting off his flow of words. His chest tightened, and then compressed, squeezing the air from his lungs. His head spinning, his knees almost gave out, his ass struck the counter behind him, helping to support him.

Ohmygod. Ohmygod. Ohmygod. Ohmygod. Ohmygod.

It repeated itself like a mantra in his mind. Heero had come home. Heero had most likely gone to his room, expecting to sleep. Instead, he'd found Wufei and him in his bed, curled up all nice and cozy-like. And of course he would think--but then, they had. Well, not last night, and really only those two times, but...

Ohmygod. Ohmygod. Ohmygod. Ohmygod. Ohmygod.

And he had left... he left them... he took his things...

Duo's mind raced back to this morning, crawling out of bed, crawling into the shower, crawling out of the shower, crawling into something to wear.

Oh god, it was true! Heero had taken his things! Even his laptop! Which means, he'd had to pack his stuff while he and Wufei slept--

Violet eyes focused once more on the other boy. "And you didn't wake up? Didn't try to stop him? Where the hell was he going? Why didn't he--"

He didn't realize his legs had given out beneath him until Wufei's voice shouting his name registered--about the same time he realized he was on the floor and Wufei's arms were around him.

"Oh god. Oh god. Oh god. Oh god. Oh god." The words fell from his lips without him aware of it.

Wufei rocked him in his arms, there on the floor, warring with himself. A part of him was berating himself, screaming that he was a coward, that he should have fought harder to keep Yuy here last night, to not have let the other boy go. Another part was screaming, because he knew Yuy's leaving would hurt Duo and he had still let the other go, and now, Duo's pain was his fault. Another part was screaming, because he had left Yuy go, because he wanted Yuy gone, out of the picture, away from Duo. Because he wanted Duo.

But Duo didn't want him. Duo didn't want him.

He wanted Heero.

It was little less than an hour later when Duo left the safe house. Left it, bags in hand. Left it, and left him.

"I'm sorry to bail on you like this, Wu-man," he had said at the kitchen doorway. "I just gotta get outta here. I gotta think some things over, you know?" Wufei had just nodded, not trusting his voice. He remained there, sitting at the kitchen table, as Deathscythe's thrusters flared and the Gundam shot out of sight.

He remained there, sitting there, sitting staring at a melted bowl of ice cream across from him.

 

### Part 4: On the Home Front

 

Quatre and Trowa had returned to their current safehouse--one of Quatre's many establishments--to find the house empty of both Gundams and pilots. Quatre had been immediately worried, but Trowa had reasonably pointed out that another mission had probably arrived while they were away. Quatre would have been satisfied with this answer... if he hadn't had found the note Wufei had left for them.

He had immediately put a call through to the three missing Gundams. Duo was the only one who'd answered his call; both Wufei's and Heero's lines remained silent. Either they weren't near their computers or Gundams, or they were ignoring him. He hoped it was the former and not the later.

The blonde boy sighed, leaning back in his desk chair as he continued to stare at the blank screen. He didn't want to pry into his friends' lives--no, no, that wasn't necessarily true. He wanted to know every juicy detail of what was going on, and really, if that last mission to Hawaii hadn't come up, he would have wheedled the entire story out of Duo by now...

Boy was that a shock!

Quatre had known how Duo felt for the Japanese boy, and he strongly suspected Heero's feelings for the braided boy... but... W*U*F*E*I?

Now *that* was a surprise...

Quatre hadn't even realized the Chinese boy's feelings ran that way... and... he refused to acknowledge that little pang of regret he felt. If he didn't have Trowa...

As if knowing the blonde boy was thinking of him, the tall, graceful young man walked into the study.

"All done packing?" Quatre asked, smiling up at his lover, reaching out his hands to the young man, beckoning him to him. Trowa nodded once, not saying a word as his graceful body covered the distance between the door and the desk. Aquamarine eyes studied that body, caressing the straight lines and curves with intimate knowledge.

"Hmmm," he purred, pulling Trowa into his lap and burying his face in the young man's neck, his tongue darting out to taste his skin before sucking on it.

Trowa purred in response, his head falling to the side, allowing Quatre free access to his throat and shoulder. He could feel the other's hands, moving over his body, stroking him--

On the desk, the vid-phone beeped, breaking the blonde's attention to the body on his lap and in his arms. Growling, he reached forward to answer. Trowa slipped off his lap--much to his disappointment--before the screen blinked to life.

"Wufei!" Quatre cried, pleased to see his friend despite the interruption.

"Winner," the scowling Chinese boy replied, bobbing his head in greeting. "You called?"

"Yes, yes, I did," Quatre said, somewhat distractedly.

Wufei waited a moment, but when the blonde boy didn't continue he prodded, "What about?" He continued to frown, noticing Quatre's flushed appearance over the screen.

"Oh, um, what about?" Quatre fought to keep his mind in order, wiggling in his seat all the while. "Um, well, I was wondering if everything's okay," he said, licking his lips and trying to breathe evenly. "Trowa and I were, ah, expecting you guys to be here when we got back, and, ah--"

"I left a note," Wufei replied calmly, crossing his arms and leaning back in his pilot's seat.

"Yes, yes, you did," the blonde replied, somewhat breathlessly. "But, I was, ah, still worried--"

"There is nothing to be worried about, Quatre," Wufei cut in, his voice more gentle than most would have expected from the Chinese pilot. "It was decided that space was needed. I appreciate your concern--"

"Where are you?" Quatre asked, swallowing a sudden gasp.

"On the Asian Continent," the ebony-haired pilot answered. "I do not know for how long."

"Will you at least maintain contact?" Quatre asked, struggling to maintain his quickly dwindling control. "So we can reach you if or when needed?"

Wufei was silent for a moment... and then he nodded. "Agreed," he told the blonde before dissolving the connection.

Quatre moaned, falling back into the chair, using it to lift his hips and thrust them into Trowa's devilish mouth. From his position on the floor, between Quatre's knees--where he'd been since the beginning of the phone call--Trowa swallowed Quatre's length whole, bobbing his head up and down repeatedly, moving his tongue, his teeth, his lips over the blonde boy's penis.

"That--" gasp "was mean!" pant-pant.

Trowa smiled, pulling away from the engorged flesh with a <<pop>>, nuzzling it with his cheek as his lips trailed lower, his tongue darting out to lick Quatre's testicles. "Really?" he purred, feeling Quatre's hands loose themselves in his hair and thrilling to what he knew was about to happen next.

"Really," Quatre growled, pulling the boy up off his knees and throwing him down across the desk.

"How mean?" Trowa gasped, catching the edge of the desk with his hands and leaning over. Cool hands drove themselves into the waist of his jeans, reaching in and clasping him, yanking him back against Quatre's body, Quatre's penis, hot, searing through the denim.

"Very..." Quatre purred, tugging on those too-tight-but-oh-so-sexy jeans.

"Good..." the taller boy moaned, feeling the cool air hitting his exposed flesh. Deftly, he reached in to a drawer and pulled out a tube of lube, forcing it into Quatre's hand so the other wouldn't forget.

Quatre groaned, Trowa moaned, a lube-slick finger slipping into his opening, a second joining it, and another until...

Trowa moaned, Quatre groaned, feeling that warm heat engulf him, warm, delicious, completely. He leaned over the boy, his lips seizing the other's throat, his one hand steadying the other at the waist, his other trailing circles over his thigh.

"I will never get enough of you," he growled into Trowa's ear before thrusting. Trowa's pleasured cry was his only answer as the blonde boy drove into him again and again.

Trowa came, his hot, sticky fluid coating Quatre's hand as the blonde continued to stroke him, smearing it over his penis. Quatre was only a minute behind him, leaning into him, pushing his body into the desk. They were quiet, panting, for several minutes, and then Trowa stirred.

"I have to go," he said finally.

Quatre shifted, pulling up off the other boy and allowing him to get up. "But I thought you didn't have to leave till tomorrow morning?"

"I changed my flight," the tall young man replied, not meeting the other's eyes as he pulled his jeans up from around his ankles, refastening them.

"But... why?" Quatre asked, already rebuckling his pants. His hands found Trowa's waist, and he pulled the taller boy closer to him. "Why? I thought we could spend a quiet night at home tonight..."

"Quatre..." Trowa looked like he was about to say more, but then he shook his head, pulling away. "It's better for me to leave tonight."

"Well... if you say so..." the blonde replied, looking decidedly not pleased.

"I do," Trowa replied, a thumb brushing over the pink cheek of his lover. "I just came to say good-bye before I left."

'That's one hell of a good-bye,' Quatre thought, but didn't say. Instead he put on a pout, locking his arms around, behind Trowa's waist. "You're sure?" he asked. "There's nothing I can do to make you change your mind?" He pressed his hips against Trowa's, leaning his torso back to look up at his lover.

"Quatre, please..." the tall pilot sighed.

The blonde boy sighed as well, pulling away and going over to his desk. "Okay, fine," he said, scribbling something down on a piece of paper and handing it to him. "Here. This is where Duo's at. Do me a favor and contact him when you get up there, okay?"

Trowa took the paper and nodded, turning to leave. But a hand on his held him back.

"And do me another favor?" Quatre asked, turning those large sea-blue eyes on him.

Trowa said nothing, waiting for the other to speak.

"Be careful, huh?" the blond whispered, leaning up to brush his lips against Trowa's.

 

### Part 5: The Devil's Dance

 

The room was dark except for the white beam of moonlight that fell over the bed. He stood in the doorway to the balcony, the sheer curtains fluttering around him as he stood, looking, his eyes held to the bed, to the figure on the bed.

Beautiful...

He approached the bed, drifting over to its side until he could look directly down upon the vision there. Long golden brown strains of silken hair, the moonlight highlighting each strand in a shivery sheen, spilled over the pillow, out over the sheets, looking so soft... so tempting... Pale face, free of forced expressions, peaceful, fairy-like, enchanting...

Beautiful...

He reached out to touch that hair, that face, to brush his fingers over those softly curved lips and see if they were as soft as they looked... but the figure on the bed moved, shifting, the sheet pulling from that lithe body, slipping completely off, falling unheeded to the floor somewhere below.

And his breath caught.

Beautiful...

A knee hit the bed, so close to that smooth skin stretched over one slim hip. He leaned down, hovering over the sleeping beauty, his arms and knees holding him up, preventing him from crushing the enchanting creature into the bed.

Lashes flutter. Eyes blinked open.

Beautiful...

Lips parted. Gasped breath intaked.

Beautiful...

A moan; that beautiful body arching up into his. Arms coming up, wrapping around him, pulling him dow--

He stood at the doorway to the balcony, looking into the room. The moonlight illuminated the bed, highlighting the beautiful body laying there, writhing there, arching there, moaning, gasping, keeling there.

 _'You may have his heart,'_  a voice whispered from the shadows.  _'But I have his body.'_

And he realized the beauty wasn't alone on the bed. There was another man there, leaning over his beauty, lips devouring the lips he wanted to taste, his body taking pleasure from the body he wasn't to touch. Thrusting into his beloved beauty, wringing tiny cries of pleasure from those lips. Again. And again. And again.

The dark-haired boy shouted, thrusting into his fey love's body before falling over him, draping himself over the beauty, wrapping his arms around him. "Mine," the boy whispered, looking directly at him.

He wanted to scream, to shout. To tell him he was full of shit.

Instead, with a strangled cry, he stepped back, his foot catching on something, loosing his balance, falling back, falling over the railing, falling.

 

 

Heero woke up with a start, jumping up, unsettling the coffee mug with cold, stale coffee that tipped and poured over some loose papers that were on the desk.

"Shit," he cursed, snatching up the papers and righting the mug as he reached for some tissues to mop up the mess. Thrusting his hands into his hair, pushing his bangs back from his face, closing his eyes, and plopping his elbows onto the desk with a loud <<THUNK>>, he took a deep breath.

"Get it together, Yuy," he told himself before falling back into his chair.

It was the third dream this week--but, considering it was only Monday--he looked at the clock--it was only Tuesday, that didn't present a very good record. The fact was, the dream was only one of a hundred that had been plaguing him for a couple weeks now.

And they were getting more and more... intense...

He sighed, frowning when he noticed he was still trembling. Usually the dreams were... harmless. Or weird, like the one where Duo had his hair dressed up like Relena's and was calling to him to come back and kill him... He shivered. That one was just weird--but he chalked it up to the newscast he'd caught on one of Relena's speeches.

Yeah, normally they were just harmless... but... there were some...

Heero groaned, reaching for his coffee mug, finding it empty, and frowning. In the kitchenette he found the leftover coffee to thick to pour, and the coffee container empty.

Damn. He was drinking too much of this stuff. Somewhat sulky, he returned to his desk, pulling up the latest files Nita had sent over to him.

File Attachment, Encrypted  
From: DragonFrye  
To: Wing  
Encryption Code: __

The blinking cursor mocked him. And then he smirked.

Encryption Code: _S_h_i_n_i_g_a_m_i_'_s_L_o_v_e_r_

File Download in 10 seconds... 5 seconds... Download complete.

She was too predictable, he thought as a vid-screen popped open on his computer screen. Nita's voice over lapped the imagines displaying on the screen, imagines of pipes building, twisting, plummeting.

"Glad to see it wasn't too hard for you. Encrypted in this file is the information you will need. I'm sure you will understand my interest in this."

An encryption program was already running through the file, pulling out the needed information before her voice had ended. When the program stopped, he stared, frowning.

 _'Just why was she trying to get into White Fang's database for?'_  he wondered.

 

### Part 6: The Devil's Advocate

 

"Stay still," the first woman snapped as she carefully applied the butterfly stitch to the second woman's forehead.

"I am," growled the second, fidgeting.

Doce Behr sighed, pulling away from her head, light brown eyes staring down into the large dark hazel eyes of her sister. "Dare I ask what you did to anger him this time?" she asked softly, one would even say maternally.

"Nothing," mumbled Jack, crossing her arms under her chest and looking over her sister's shoulder stubbornly.

"Whatever," Doce sighed. "Jacqueline..." she began.

"It's 'Jack'," the seventeen-year-old snapped. "Why can't you ever call me 'Jack' like everyone else?"

"Jack..." Doce began again. "You can't keep provoking him, you know that. One of these days he might *kill* you!"

"Not if I kill him first," the dark haired girl growled, returning her look to the door.

As if on cue, it opened, admitting a smaller woman, ebony waves cropped short, framing her face but failing to brush her shoulders, onyx eyes darting over the woman on the bed-table quickly, taking in the other woman's state. Dark painted lips curved.

"Don't you have anything better to do than provoke Val?" she asked, closing the door behind her with a tiny <<click>> and leaning back against it.

"Don't you have anything better to do than provoke me?" Jack shot back, flicking her head, effectively sending her dark reddish-brown hair over one shoulder, away from her face. An ugly, yellowish-purple bruise was already starting to form over one cheek.

"Actually, yes." The third young woman smirked at her 'little' sister. "I've just returned from the Floridian Peninsula," the nineteen-year-old replied calmly. "Perhaps you would be interested in who I was there to met?" One dark brow arched, dark lips continued to smirk.

Jack's mind raced. Quickly, she jumped down from the bed-table, her boots clanking against the linoleum, startling Doce. She barely winced as the descent jarred her thigh and hip, pain shooting down her entire length. She stood up straight, her high heels adding to her already towering height above her sister.

"Really?" she said, equally as calm. "It wouldn't have anything to do with that file you promised me a month ago you'd be into... would it?" Jack's large hazel-green eyes flashed.

Ochenta Behr smiled, white teeth flashing. "We should have it by the end of the week."

Jack nodded, her own lips twitching with a smile. "Good, good... and then..." she said, her eyes meeting her sister's. "And then he shall pay."

The tall young woman almost made it out of the room, but a hand on her arm stopped her. "What happened?" Nita asked softly.

A frown stole the mirth from her sister's face. "He went after Carina," the girl said before slipping out the door.

 

 

Aim.

Fire.

Aim.

Fire.

Aim.

"You know, it would probably be more therapeutic if you just put a picture up there of his head."

Fire.

Jack lowered the weapon, reaching for another clip. "I have no idea what you're talking about," she replied curtly.

"Oh yeah?" the strawberry blonde replied, stepping up close and tapping the girl's side.

Pain flared in those hazel eyes as Jack glared down at her sister.

"You're favoring it," Blaire said calmly, going over to a chair and plopping down into it. "You can't keep it up, Jack. He'll kill you one of these days."

The girl turned, fired off three more shots, before turning around and dropping the gun to her side like a dead weight. She didn't say a word. She swayed, before falling heavily against the wall. "You think I don't know that?" she whispered finally.

She looked up from the ground, meeting her sister's yellow-green-grey eyes. "You think I don't know that, Blaire?" she hissed, tears burning her own eyes. "But what the fuck am I supposed to do?" She whirled, three more shots ringing out through the air.

"I hate him," her voice cracked. "I hate him, and I wish he was dead. I hate all of them." Her shoulders rocked as she slowly slid to the floor, sobs tearing through her young body. "I wish they were all dead..."

 

 

He was seething, though he didn't let the others know it. The dinner table was deathly silent. Even the child's normal prattle was oppressed by the heavy mood. The whole idea of family meals was highly over-rated.

"Pass me the salad, please," Kat said, breaking the silence.

"Isn't that you're third bowl?" Blaire quipped as Devenley passed the salad bowl.

"It's salad. It's good for you," Kat snapped.

"Like that would stop you," Carina giggled.

"A food shortage throughout the colonies wouldn't stop her," Nita chimed, snatching up the salad bowl for herself before it could get to Kat.

"Hey! Don't take all of it!" Kat keeled, reaching over the table for the bowl.

"Will you behave yourselves!" Valdeon snapped, his control snapping along with it.

Six deadly glares turned on him; he met each with as good as he got. They couldn't intimidate him. He was older, he was stronger, and he was more powerful than any of them. "Dinner's over," he growled.

The room was silent for several seconds... and then chairs began scraping against the wooden floor as the girls began filing out.

"Jacqueline," Val growled softly, effectively stopping the girl's exit. She turned and glared at him as the door closed softly behind her last sister. He pushed his chair back and rose, calmly covering the space between them. When he stood before her, his hand shot out, his fingers digging into her thigh.

She cried out, at once surprised and agonized. Her knee gave out and she would have fallen to the floor if he hadn't pushed her, careening her into the wall. Her breath left her in a cough. Before she could take another, her face was slammed back, her cheek darkening and stinging. A hand snaked into her hair, yanking down hard, forcing her face up as each hair follicle screamed in protest.

"Don't you *ever* interfere with me again," he hissed, pressing her back into the wall. "Do you understand me?"

"Go to hell," she gasped, crying out as her head pounded into the wall.

His mouth came down over hers, cruel, punishing; his tongue thrusting into her mouth making her gag. Her reaction was immediate.

She shut down.

She receded to that little corner of her mind that no one could touch as her body was thrown to the floor and used as a human punching bag. A rag doll.

She just closed down.

 

### Part 7: Devil's Companion

 

He was tired. Bone-dead tired. And all he wanted to do right now was crawl into bed and die.

"There you are!" Hilde called cheerfully as he walked through the kitchen door. "I was beginning to--"

Her words and smile trailed off as she caught sight of the boy in the light. "Duo, you look like shit."

His smile slid onto his face, even though he felt anything but happy and jovial. "Gee, do ya think so, Hilde? I thought I was looking pretty darn spiffy."

"Duo, don't joke around with me," she snapped. And then the fight seemed to drain out of her. "Duo, listen," she began, her indigo eyes pleading with his. "I love you. I'd do anything for--"

"Don't say that."

The dark-purple haired girl frowned at her friend. Duo's back had suddenly gone straight and his face pale beneath the smudges of grime and muck, and Hilde was sincerely worried. She moved to go to his side but he stepped away from her.

"Don't you *dare* say that, you hear me?" Duo said, unaware of the tremble in his voice. "Don't say you love me. Everyone who loves me dies, do you get that? Everyone dies. Don't do that, Hilde, don´t curse yerself like that."

He looked directly at her and she searched his eyes, hoping to find something there that would help her understand. "Duo..." she began softly, her head shaking from side to side. "Love isn't something you can do or not do. If I'm meant to die, then I'll die. I'm going to die eventually anyway, right? It won't be your fault." She shot him a small smile. "Not unless you pull the trigger, of course."

"Dammit, Hilde!" the braided pilot exploded, flinging the pots and pans drying on the counter flying onto the floor. "Dammit! Don't you understand?"

"NO! That's the problem!" she shouted back at him, getting in his face. "I don't understand and I keep trying to and you keep pushing me away! Stop pushing me away, Duo!" Her hands reached up and cupped his quivering face, flushed with anger, with rage, with emotions whose origins she didn't understand... but wanted to. "Don't push me away," she repeated softly.

His hands came up around hers, vise-like gripes around her wrists, bruising, punishing with the strength they disguised. 'Hell! He wasn't a Gundam pilot for nothing,' she thought, trying not to wince.

"Duo..." Her voice was soft, comforting, warm, inviting... She bent her face, tucking her head into his shoulder, wrapping her arms around his neck, holding him close. His hands on her wrist, loosened, allowing the limbs to slide up around his neck until his hands rested on her shoulders, and then he slide them down, until they rested at her back, and he pulled her close.

"Hilde..." he sighed, hiding his face in her shoulder, pulling her tight and holding on as if she were his only lifeline. "Hilde..."

She thought she was going to die, the intensity with which he held her, nearly breaking her ribs. 'Like a puppy that doesn't know its own strength,' she thought whimsically, holding back just as tightly.

"Duo..."

"I just... I just don't... don't want to loose anymore important people in my life," he whispered against her shoulder.

"Duo..."

They lapsed into silence for several minutes, just holding onto each other in the kitchen.

"Duo..." Hilde said finally, pulling back from him, cupping his face again and forcing him to look at her. "Duo..." She shook her head, studying him. "You can't make someone stop loving you anymore than you can make someone love you. If loving you means my death, than I'd gladly accept death. You're worth it." She grinned up at him, before leaning up and gently pressing her lips to his.

'I'm not going to panic. I'm not going to panic. I'm not going to panic.' Duo gulped, audibly, pressing back into the counter behind him as Hilde pressed closer before him. 'I'm not going to panic. I'm not going to panic.'

How was it he could kiss a guy with only little butterflies, but when he has a girl kissin' him, he's all ready to freak out? It's a GIRL! That's how! Girls are... girls! They're different from guys!

"You could kiss me back you know?" Hilde said softly, pulling back just barely to look up at him. She laughed. "I'm not going to bite you, Duo. It's just a kiss."

"Yeah, I know tha--"

He didn't get a chance to finish; she was on him again, her mouth moving over his and her tongue playing against his. His immediate response was to balk, pulling back, but she followed him, one hand weeding into his hair from under his braid, the other resting against his chest, as if she was measuring his heartbeat.

"Listen, Hilde," he said, pulling his lips away from hers. "I'm--"

"In love with someone else," she said, looking up at him. "I know."

"How?" He regretted the word the minute it left his lips.

She shrugged. "If you weren't, you would had to have been dead to miss the signals I've been throwing out at you this past week." She smiled. "It's okay, Duo. I'm not fishing for a relationship." She gave him a pouty smile. "The truth is, I'm attracted to you, and it's been a while since I've been attracted to anyone, and, well, I'd really like to fuck you." She shrugged again. "And sex is a great stress reliever." Her hands slipped to his neck and shoulders, squeezing. "And you can't tell me you haven't been stressed..."

She leaned forward again, avoiding his lips and this time ghosting his cheek, till her lips brushed against his ear. "No strings, Duo." She pulled back, searching his eyes, waiting for his answer.

 

### Part 8: A Soul Torn in Two

 

Winter 185AC

The seven-year-old held back for several minutes, watching the boy from behind another tree. She would have been content to stay there, watching him, if she hadn't seen his shoulders shake. She slipped out from behind the tree and approached him, holding out the jacket she had brought.

"Here," she said watching carefully as his head snapped up and his icy blue eyes glared at her.

"Whaddare you doin' here?" the nine-year-old's voice cracking as he gulped back angry tears.

"They were wrong to say that," she said, dropping the jacket in his lap. He stared at it for several seconds and then finally trudged it on. "Trieze was wrong."

"No," the boy countered. "They were right. *He* was right. I have to get a lot tougher if I'm going to--" His voice trailed off as he looked out past the horizon.

"Going to what?" she asked when she realized he wasn't going to finish.

He looked at her, as if startled she was still there. "Nothing," he mumbled. "Forget about it."

"Hey," she said, playfully, punching him lightly on the arm. "You know you can tell me anything! I won't tell nobody else, promise!"

He smiled, just the slightest lift to his lips. "Yeah, I know, thanks, Lu-lu."

The dark-haired girl scowled. "Don't call me that."

He did grin this time. "Okay, okay. Though I don't get why you wanna be called by your last name."

She shrugged, propping her arms on her knees and her chin on her arms. "I dunno. I just think it's a lot nicer than 'Lucrezia'." He hummed, but didn't say anything and silence fell around the two children as the day sky prepared for night. "You never answered me," she reminded him after a while.

He looked at her, thoughtfully, for a moment, and then looked back away towards the horizon. "There are some people... they... hurt me and my family real bad," he said, frowning. "I want to get them and hurt them, too. I wanna make them pay for killin' my parents."

When he looked at her, there were a number of emotions clouding her face, but, surprisingly, the one he expected to see--pity--was absent.

"I'd be real mad if someone tried to hurt my mom and dad," she said after a moment. And then, "If you want... I'll help you find these people."

He studied her for a moment, as if weighing her sincerity, and then he nodded. "Thanks, Noin."

She smiled. "No problem, Zechs. I'll always be here for you..."

 

 

Seventeen-year-old Lucrezia Noin was curled up in a window seat of the luxurious spaceship, the Peacemillion--which was really more of a space yacht than a battle ship, but a battle ship it was to become. She sat there, legs curled up to her chest, her arms cradling her knees, her head leaning up against the dark panel of glass, staring out into the galaxy. Somewhere out there was her long-time friend, her sometimes lover, her soul mate, her love.

Words from earlier, replayed in her mind, like they had a hundred times before.

'Zechs... Zechs... don't you recognize me?'

Zechs... what were you thinking?

'... I hear you...'

How could you...?

'Zechs... please explain to me your thoughts! Under Miss Relena's rule Earth is starting towards peace. Why are you opposing Miss Relena?'

Please... I don't understand... why? Why would you threaten your own sister? What were you thinking?

'My thoughts are as I declared. For Space, Earth is the origins of all conflict.'

But... What? How? Why, Zechs? Why?

'But--'

'And I will correct it.'  
Zechs... Why...?

'No... Zechs! Zechs?'

Don't leave me behind, Zechs! Don't leave me in the dark!

'You are not necessary in Space!'

"Zechs...what the hell are you thinking?" she whispered to the star-studded view.

Somewhere behind her, a door slid open. "Here you are," Sally's voice penetrated her thoughts. Noin turned, quickly scrubbing her eyes free from any telling tears. "There's been mobile suit action in the L2 area again. Howard says from the looks of it, Gundam 02's back in space."

"What about the others?" Noin asked, pushing up from the window seat. "Any word from Quatre or Heero."

Sally shook her head, giving the younger woman a sad smile. "No, but it wouldn't hurt to give them a call and ask them when they're going to get their butts back here, now would it?" she said, grinning.

Noin laughed. "No, I guess it wouldn't. I'll give Quatre a call tonight. By then it should be morning Earth-side."

Sally nodded, still smiling. "How 'bout a drink," she offered, holding open the door before slipping back out.

"I could use a drink," Noin muttered, joining her.

"You look like it," Sally shot back before the door slid shut behind the two women.

 

### Part 9: The Haunted Clown

 

The circus was no longer on tour and despite the Oz rebel disturbance of a few weeks before, the ringmaster had decided to stay where they were. The space fortress Libra had moved out of orbit several hours after the attack on Earth. However, if it had stayed, it would have been a good bet he would have moved his circus far, far away from the area. Mobile suits *inside* the colony was bad enough. Having a huge chuck of metal just *outside* it that was threatening to annihilate the entire Earth was just a little bit too much for his already stressed out nerves.

"Catherine! Can you help get these animals moved to the--"

"I can do that," a quiet voice spoke up from behind him.

The ringmaster whirled around, surprise and barely repressed delight clouding his features. "Trowa!" he called before a pink and purple blur whisked past him, hurtling itself into the young man's arms.

"Trowa! Trowa! You're all right! You're safe! Why didn't you call sooner! I would have come picked you up from the spaceport! Oh, Trowa! When did you get in! How long are you staying for? Where have you been? And why didn't you call sooner? What? Were you trying to scare me silly? Worrying about you like that and not even calling to let me know if you were still alive or not!"

The tall young man held the girl close for a second, and then released her the minute she pulled away and started laying into him with her barrage of verbal abuse. When the girl playfully punched him in the arm, the Ringmaster saw the telltale whisper of a smile ghost the boy's lips--more reaction then he could remember ever seeing from the boy in the little less then a year he'd been with his circus.

The Ringmaster smiled. The boy was better, better then the last time he'd been with them. That was good. He was stronger now; more prepared for the horrors he had to face. The Ringmaster wasn't a fool. He knew the war wasn't over, and he knew that before it was, this slip of a young man might lose his life, and that scared him more than he cared to admit, because, quite frankly, in the little time he'd spent with his circus, the boy had become like a little brother to most of its members. Polite, courteous, helpful, great with the animals, a natural acrobat, even if he was a little bit on the quiet side. But more than that--the Ringmaster had come to think of the boy as a son almost, as he thought of Cathy as a daughter. In fact, the boy reminded him of another young man he had accepted into his circus some many years ago. Strong. Proud. Willing to work.

"Catherine, that's enough," the Ringmaster called, pulling the girl's attention away from the young man. "I'm sure Trowa's been very busy--" the young man flushed faintly--"and we should be happy that he remembered us at all. Now why don't you go get those animals settled down before you head off for the night, hmmm?"

"I'll do it, boss," Trowa said, swinging the single bag he had with him to a shoulder, Catherine falling to his other side. "It's no problem."

"See!" Catherine beamed. "Trowa's here, now. Those beasts will quiet down like kittens and lambs in no time!"

The Ringmaster turned away to hide the amused expression on his lips when he saw the boys somewhat bemused expression as the girl looked up at him adoringly.  _'The boy can do no wrong in her eyes,'_  he mused. 'And if he does, she'll merely brown beat him until he does good!' "Whatever," he called over his shoulder. "Just see to it it's done!"

"Oh, Trowa! I'm so happy you're back!" Catherine glossed. "Here, let me take your things and I'll go warm up some food for you!"

"No!" Trowa said a little bit more passionately than normal. "I mean, really, Cathy, it's all right. I had a little something to eat on the shuttle. I'm not hungry."

"Don't be silly, Trowa! You're a growing boy! You need to eat!" She slapped his cheek affectionately and turned away, heading off to her trailer.

He stared after her a moment, and then smiled. It felt good to be back amongst this. It felt good and safe--but he knew he couldn't stay here too long. There was still a war going on, after all. He pulled out the little slip of paper in his pocket, studying the address code.

Folding it back up, he slipped it back into his pocket. Duo would probably be asleep at this hour--'or out partying,' his mind quipped. He could wait till morning to contact the boy.

 

 

He sat at is desk, seething. He didn't know what to do. He had pressure breathing down him from all sides. White Fang. Romafeller. Oz. The Barton Foundation. Yeah, he dealt with all of them. And right now, they were breathing down his neck 'cause he'd promised to deliver a gundam pilot.

And one week ago he'd *had* a gundam pilot to give them.

But not now. Nope. Not now. And all because of that BITCH!

Who the hell did she think she was? Always second-guessing him. Always making snide comments. Criticizing his actions.

And no matter what she did to put her in her place, she kept doing it.

And the others. The others respected her more then him. He knew it. He saw it. He saw it in their eyes when the looked at her. The way they jumped to action when she barked out orders. The way they asked 'how high' when she said 'jump'.

AND SHE WAS FUCKING YOUNGER THAN THEM!!! FUCKING YOUNGER!!! AND THEY ALL LISTENED TO HER LIKE SHE WAS THEIR FUCKING GOD OR SOMETHING!!!

He hated her. He hated all his siblings, but her especially.

It wasn't right. It wasn't fair. He, as the oldest living family member should be respected, should be obeyed, should be worshiped. Not that slut. Not that conniving, deceiving bitch!

He hated her. He hated her and he made sure she knew it. They all knew it.

He hated her, but she didn't fear him--and that made him hate her more.

No matter what he did to her, she still didn't fear him.

And he wanted that, needed that. Needed to feel her fear of him, needed to feel her submit to him.

Even when she submitted to him physically, it was only a shell--leaving him more livid. Nothing he could do made her fear him.

Fear and respect him, like what was his right.

As last living son, it was his right. He controlled their lives. They were in *his* hands--and they should fear and respect him…

Like they feared and respected Cordell and Peron. His brothers were dead, but he didn't care. Let them rot, the bunch of faggots. It was his now. All his. The family. The business. The power. The respect.

Except for his fucking bitch sisters!

Especially the youngest one--the one that looked so much like their father. The fucking asshole.

He hated her the most, despite how much he hated the other.

Yes. He hated her the most. Carina.

 

### Part 10: Demon Lover

 

"The truth is, Duo," she said, still pressing close to him, and yet, she didn't seem to crowd him at all. "I'm attracted to you, and it's been a while since I've been attracted to anyone, and, well, I'd really like to fuck you."

His throat and mouth went dry and he swallowed, desperately trying to moisten them back up. This was just too unreal. He here was, back on a colony that he'd pretty much promised never to return to, in a kitchen, pushed up against the counter, as a girl he considered a pretty darn good friend came onto him, while he was still trying to figure out all the mess that happened the week before between two of his co-pilots. What the hell was this? Let's-all-try-to-screw-Duo--Week?

Hilde leaned forward again, avoiding his lips and this time ghosting his cheek, till her lips brushed against his ear. "No strings, Duo." She pulled back, searching his eyes, waiting for his answer.

He did the only thing that came naturally to him--he hid.

Leaning back into the counter, he flashed her a winning grin. "There ain't no strings on me!" He laughed.

She frowned, pulling back away from him. "Duo..." her voice was low, warning. Suddenly, without warning, she reached for the hem of her jumper shift, pulling it up over her head in one fluid motion, leaving her in her long sleeved--tight!--shirt and a pair of black lacy panties.

He gulped--audibly.

"So, what is it? Not attracted to brunettes?" she asked, fisting a hand on one hip. She tossed the beret onto the table, atop her shift, with the other, finger-combing her inky-blue bands. "It's not my first time, and I'm more than willing, so you don't have to worry about raping me," she added with a wry smile.

"Rape?" he eeped, swallowing harder. Shit! How'd he get himself into *this* mess?

She grinned, closing the distance between them again, her hands playing over his chest... his shoulders... his neck... his thigh... his--Eep! "Besides," she purred, pressing closer to him, trapping her hand between their bodies. "You can't rape the willing..."

Her lips brushed over his--back, forth, back--before pressing against his, more forcefully.

 _'Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! What the hell was going on here?'_  his mind screamed even as his body reacted to Hilde's attentions. She was seducing him--AND IT WAS WORKING!!!

"Hilde, I don't--"

Her tongue slipped into his open mouth, exploring the warm recesses. Her body wiggled against his, heating his blood, and he moaned.  _'Shit! Fuck this,'_  he thought, twisting so it was her body pressed up against the counter. 'Like she said, can't rape the willing.'

Hilde felt the shift and gasped, Duo's tongue slipping between his lips to answer hers as his hands began to move over her back and down her ass, sliding over her thighs and back up. She moaned, responding to the caresses enthusiastically. After a few clumsy attempts, she was on the counter top, her legs wrapping tightly around his waist.

Duo's hands slipped up, sliding under Hilde's shirt and caressing her smooth bare back, circling her shoulder blades and tracing her spine. In his arms, she shivered, her legs tightening around his waist, pulling him closer. His arousal pushed against the musky dampness of the little silk panties.

She dragged her mouth away from his, her head falling back as her back arched, a deep, throaty moan falling from her lips. Duo's pace didn't stop. Instead his lips fell to her throat, tracing her collar, sucking. In a flash, he yanked her shirt up and off, dropping it to the floor. His lips trailed lower, her hands buried against his scalp urging him onward.

He nuzzled her valley and then seized hold of one rose-colored nipple. Hilde cried out, clutching him to her as he suckled experimentally, and then she dragged his mouth back to hers. Their lips and tongues warred.

"Let's take this to the bedroom," she gasped against his lips. Not giving him a chance to answer, she leaned into him until he was completely supporting her. Her legs locked behind his waist, her arms around his neck. His arms wrapped around her waist and backside, securing her, and then he stumbled back, bumping into the table, reeling, banging into the wall, stumbling through the hallway, banging into the door, wrestling it open until they fell onto the bed, Duo pushing her into the skimpy mattress as Hilde wiggled and squirmed beneath him.

He felt a moment of self-consciousness when she managed to flip him over and get all his clothes from him. He laid there naked as she moved over him, gasping as her fingers sought out all his sensitive spots. It was a matter of seconds before both of them were completely naked, writhing on the bed, their bodies pushing against each others, seeking fulfillment.

She kissed him, hard, hungry, as her fingers teased his dick, running up and down its length, flicking the tiny slit, smearing the creamy precum. She took his hand and slipped it between her legs, taking two fingers and swiping them across her clit, drenching them in her own cum.

"Duo..." she whispered, her voice husky with desire. "I want you..."

And that was all the warning she gave before dropping herself over him, her hands holding him steady as her heated sex slipped around his, engulfing him, swallowing him, burning him alive. His fingers continued to dance over her clit like she'd showed him as he gasped, panted.

And then her hips came crashing down into his, burying him completely. Her head thrown back, she moaned, her hands smoothing up her flat belly to pinch her pert nipples. Duo groaned, the sight of her pleasuring herself completely erotic. And when she began to move, slowly at first, a gently rocking of her hips that forced his dick in and out of her tight, hot sex, one hand continuing to pinch her nipples, the other urging his fingers to go faster, harder over her clit... and when she began pounding her hips into his, forcing him into the mattress so hard that the springs creaked in protest... and when she threw her head back, moaning so loud that he was sure the entire colony could hear her...

When she did all that, she'd stop, shift the angle of her hips, and start again, building and building until she was screaming his name as she came, her hot cum creaming his and her thighs as their bodies smacked together, over and over again, until he couldn't take it any more and shouted with her, his seed spurting from him as he cried out, hips bucking up to meet hers.

They fell into the mattress, two gasping, panting, sweaty bodies, too hot to bother with sheets.

"Damn, Hilde..." was all he managed to say, to which she just giggled and sighed, slipping off him and tugging a pillow free before falling off to sleep.

Duo stayed awake for several more minutes, though, caught in the anti-climax.  _'Damn. I think I've just been used,'_  he thought bemused.

 

### Part 11: Connection

 

"Noin, it's a pleasure to hear from you," Quatre answered automatically when the view screen flared to life.

"Hello, Quatre," the dark haired young woman replied. "How are things with you and the others?"

Quatre continued to smile, more out of habit than because he was really happy. "Things could be better," he said, sitting back in his desk chair. "And you?"

"Same." Noin sighed. She looked more tired than he remembered from the last time they spoke. "Things are... getting a little busy up here, Quatre," Noin said softly.

"I know." This time Quatre sighed. "I was talking to Duo last night and he mentioned the heavy activity. Trowa left last night. I know Wufei's still on Earth, but I haven't a clue where Heero's hiding."

"They're not all with you?" Noin asked, surprised.

Quatre's smile turned bittersweet. "No, as much as I wish it were otherwise. The truth of the matter is, Noin," he sighed again. "We're just not used to working as a group, yet. We're still getting used to each other, and, well, some are having a harder time of it then others."

Noin was quiet for a moment. "I understand," she said softly, finally. "Quatre... when do you think you'll be returning to space?"

"I don't know, Noin," the blonde boy admitted. "I've been thinking about coming up sooner rather than later. There's really nothing left for me to do here, and, as you said, all the action's in space."

"Yes. You and the rest of the Gundams are needed here, Quatre."

The blonde head bowed. "I know..." he sighed. "Earth is just so beautiful... I could happily live here without ever returning to space, I think."

"Quatre," Noin warned. "If things keep going the way they are, there won't *be* an Earth to live on!"

"I know, I know... that's why I have to fight." He looked at her, smiling a smile he really didn't feel. "I will be returning to Peacemillion soon, Noin. Don't worry."

She looked grim, but nodded. "Be safe, Quatre. Until I see you again."

"You too, Miss Noin," Quatre responded, bobbing his head before flicking the screen off. He sighed into his chair, looking around his office. "There really *is* nothing keeping me here..."

 

 

Clickity-clickity-clamp-clickity-click-click-clickity-clamp.

His fingers fired over the keyboard, racing cyber walls that were meant to keep him and others like him *out*. But that didn't stop him.

Once he had the information he needed, it was only a matter of hours before the rest began to pour in. It took him another day and a half to sneak through the wall. One more day and he had located the files he was searching for.

ESCORX196 and ZAQUAR96.

Now he was racing out of the database before the defenses could find him. If he could just get in and get out without getting caught.

They knew he was in there, but they still didn't know what he was after. That gave him the element of surprise if whatever was on these files was actually worth all the trouble he'd gone through to get them.

"They better damn well be," he mumbled under his breath.

"YESSS!" He was out. "Good defense systems." He smirked. "Just not good enough."

He downloaded the files, made two backup copies just in case, and then opened them.

"Shit," he hissed as the words and diagrams began to play over his screen.

 

 

It didn't take a fucking genius to know what was going on, but still, there was a naïve innocence that surrounded them, sort of like a pact of silence. They all knew, but no one said anything--because there was nothing they could say. Nothing they could do.

Well, almost everyone knew. The youngest, Carina, didn't know the truth. She really was innocent, and it was an innocence that her sisters protected at all costs. Even at fifteen, the girl was more innocent than any of them had been at the age of ten.

"Jack, you look terrible! What happened?" the girl in question cried when she saw her sister in the hallway.

Jack forced her split lips to curve in a smile. "Oh, I was just playing a little too rough in the simulator room, nothing to worry about, Rini," the seventeen-year old replied.

Carina frowned, her pink-shelled lips puckering into a pout. "You shouldn't work so much, Jack. You might get really hurt."

"Auh, I'm alright, Rini. Don't you worry ‘bout me," Jack smiled, leaning back against the wall. "Why don't you run ahead and tell Dev I'm on my way, alright?"

The girl held a moment, but then rushed forward, enveloping her sister in a hug before dashing off down the corridor. She didn't look back, and thus didn't see the other girl biting her lip to keep from crying out.

 

### Part 12: Heart of a Dragon

 

"DIE!! If you can not defeat me than you will DIE!"

Atlong's arm came up and lunged, delivering its justice, leaving scrapes of metal in its wake.

"Come on! Defeat me! If you are right, DEFEAT ME!!"

But no one responded. His was the only suit left mobile. He was the only living thing for miles around. His scream tore through the cockpit, deafening, resounding off the walls, and engulfing him in the screams of the tormented. He pounded on his console in frustration.

Outside, the twisted and charred remains of over two-dozen mobile dolls floating in space.

 

 

He'd secured a shuttle to get him into space. Really, he didn't need one. Zero could probably escape the atmosphere with little trouble, but 1.) he didn't want to risk it, and 2.) he really didn't feel like advertising to OZ and White Fang that he was returning to space.

The irony of coming across the badly damaged gundam did not escape him. Of course, things were a bit different now than what they had been weeks previous, but that did not stop him from pulling up along side and pulling it aboard next to his own.

The cockpit door slid open and the Chinese boy floated in, buckling down into the co-pilot's seat. An unsettling silence enveloped them, the tension radiating between them.

"I didn't expect you to stop," Wufei said then, finally, softly.

"Your gundam is damaged," Heero replied, as if that was all the explanation needed.

Apparently it was, because Wufei didn't say anything.

"Have you talked to Duo? Or the others?" he added as an afterthought. The quiet Japanese man remained silent. Wufei turned to look out the window. "I talked to Quatre four days ago. He said Duo was in the colonies and that it's been busy."

"Don't you know?" Heero questioned, his brow wrinkling just slightly with a frown.

"Now I do," Wufei replied. "I decided to come up two days ago. Everywhere I turn, it appears there are more squadrons."

"No, don't you know where Duo is?" Heero clarified.

Wufei paused, frowning. "No," he admitted finally. "He... left. Two weeks ago. I haven't heard from him since."

Heero was silent. Wufei was silent. And then, "I see," Heero whispered.

"No, you don't," Wufei retorted. "You're too thick-headed to see anything other than your mission, which is the problem in the first place!"

Heero didn't say anything, just continued to feed coordinates into the nav-guide.

"Dammit, Yuy! You're being damn selfish!"

"I don't think you're in a position to offer advice," Heero returned quietly.

Wufei fell silent, glaring at the Japanese boy.

"I told you before that it's you he wants, not me," he said after another moment.

"It looks to me like he already made his choice," Heero returned, his voice low. He didn't dare take his eyes off the display screen.

"Yes, he did, dammit! He chose you!" Wufei shouted. "Don't you get it? He chose you, Yuy. Not me, you. All he and I had was one night of sex. Nothing else."

"I think that's enough."

Wufei was seething. He'd thought he'd come to terms with this, but obviously he was mistaken. He fought vainly to reel in his composure. He should have known it was a losing battle.

"Fine! If that's the way you see it, then fine! I guess I'll just have to be the one he turns to when he realizes you don't give a rat's ass about him! He's a good fuck. I won't mind."

Even with all his training, he was unprepared for the fist that came slamming into his face. Heero was up out of his seat and out of the cockpit before Wufei could recover. Fingering his cheek, Wufei watched the closed door, swallowing back his hot tears.  _'Dammit! What the hell was he doing? Was Duo's happiness really worth all this pain?'_

Gasping, realizing hot tears were rolling down his face despite his efforts, Wufei curled over onto the console.  _'Yes. Yes it was...'_

"Duo..."

 

### Part 13: Return to Peacemillion

 

Quatre had been surprised when he returned to Peacemillion and found Duo already there.

"Q-man! Great to see ya! Whadaya been up to, huh? Better yet, what took ya so long? the braided 02 pilot began the minute Quatre stepped free of the shuttle.

"Duo! the blonde had responded immediately, engulfing the other boy in a huge hug that left both laughing. "When did you get here? I thought you were still on L2? Have you heard from Trowa? Is he here too?

"Whoa! Whoa! *I'm* the one asking questions here! Duo grinned, dragging his friend down to the cafeteria so they could 'catch up'.

 

 

The animals were settling in for the night, but some were still restless. He scratched the large house cat behind its mane, a soothing action for them both.

"I miss him, he told the lion, "but I know I shouldn't. I shouldn't get too attached to him. Especially not now, when we are fighting a war. Either one of us could die at any moment, I know. But...

The boy sighed, leaning his head against the bars. "I should leave, he said standing up.

"Oh, but, Trowa! You just got here, Catherine cried, coming up behind him.

"I know, Cathy, but there's a war going on. He turned and looked down at her. "I am needed somewhere else.

She looked ready to yell at him, but then bit her lip. "I understand, she said in a small voice. "Please--please be carefully, Trowa. I would be--very... sad, if something were to happen to you...

He studied her face, knowing she was saying the truth, but not understanding why. Why did she care so much for him? He was nothing but another soldier, a good acrobat, and an unemotional clown.

"I will, Cathy, he said, leaning forward and brushing his lips across her forehead.

 

 

He sat in the darkened room, in absolute silence, the screen before him bright with the view of Earth. His mind raced, his body was cold, his heart was contracting painfully in his chest.

 _'So beautiful...'_  he thought sadly looking upon the image of his home.  _'So beautiful, and yet, so deadly...'_

_'Zechs... what are you thinking? You know you can tell me anything...'_

"Trieze... I don't want to be your enemy..." the blonde man whispered hoarsely to the empty room, the image of Earth burning into his retinas.

 

 

Heero had returned to the cockpit to find Wufei gone and the autopilot on. He wasn't worried. It wasn't like there was too much they could run into in space, and there weren't too many places the Chinese boy could run to on the small ship.

They were about half an hour away from Peacemillion's current position, but Heero knew the old man in charge over there would have peaked their sensors past normal and the shuttle he was on would soon catch their notice.

"Unidentified shuttle, this is the Peacemillion."

He loved being right. He smirked and flipped the switch to com unit. "This is pilot 01," he said calmly, his voice not betraying his smile.

"Heero? Heero Yuy? Is that you?"

"Howard." Heero nodded, his smile dissolving the minute the view screen flared to life.

"Well, by gods! Look it that! And here I thought you would've gone and self-destructed yourself again! Hey kid, how's that gundam of yours? You bang her up yet?"

"Nothing that can't be repaired," Heero answered, knowing the old man loved to repair things--even if Zero *was* in perfect condition. "I have Gundam 05 with me as well. It's in need of repair."

"What? That Chang kid's with ya? Banged up his Gundam already? Damn! And I just repaired that thing! Jeeze! He must have more of a death wish than you do!"

"It must appear so," Wufei said from over Heero's shoulder, slipping into the co-pilot's seat again.

"Hello, Wufei!"

"Greetings, Howard," Wufei replied, nodding his head. "And how are you this day?"

"Not too bad, not too bad!" Howard returned. "Been quiet around this way lately, but with Duo arriving last night and Quatre coming in this morning, and now you two droppin' on by, things look to be picking up!"

"Duo and Quatre are there?"

"Yeah, like I said, came in this morning," Howard said, mopping his forehead with a dirt rag. "Now, all ya need to do is find that tall boy of yer's and you'll be a complete team again!"

Both boys were quiet, digesting that.

"Oiya! Hold on! There's another shuttle comin--"

"Peacemillion, this is Trowa Barton," Heero and Wufei could hear from over their connection.

"Oiya! Trowa! Was just wondering where you were at boy!"

"Howard," Heero called the older man's attention back to him. "Tell Trowa that we will meet after we dock."

"Sure thing, Heero, hey! Is it important? You look all serious."

"Yes," the Japanese boy replied before closing the link.

 

###  Part 14: The Devil's Mind

 

_My Eternal Friend,_

_I don't pretend to understand what it is you are thinking of. I only know that you are doing what you feel you must in these times. Please understand that I am doing the same. I miss you. I miss the talks we used to share. You always used to challenge me, my actions, my ideas. You made me a better person. I had hoped I helped you as well. I realize this letter will never reach you, that you will never see it. I realize that it will join a thousand other letters that I have written over my life... letters never sent. Letters never to be read by those they were meant for. And still, I insist on writing them. Well, we all have our eccentricities, no, my friend? I must go now. The shuttle carrying precious cargo has just arrived and I must greet my Lady._  
Sincerely,  
Trieze Khushrenada

 

 

"We're in."

"What?" Jack whirled in her chair. Nita stood in the doorway, smirking. "Are you sure?"

"I was just in White Fang's databases--they've put up so many firewalls," she grinned. "The only explanation for it is that they found out someone was snooping around their stuff and they didn't like it."

"So why hasn't Heero contacted you yet?" Dev asked, leaning back in her own chair.

Nita frowned. "I don't know."

"He wont," Jack whispered, talking more to herself than to her sisters. She reached forward and palmed the communicator. "Blaire."

"That would be me," the strawberry blonde's voice called back.

"That ship you were tracking... still have a lock on it?"

"Yeah, it's disappeared a couple of times--think it might have a cloaking device of some kind--but I have a pretty good idea where she's at," the voice replied.

"Good. Feed those coordinates into Shadow Star's nav-guide. And, Blaire pack up, we're heading out before night."

"Got it!" Blaire called before disconnecting.

"Jack, what are you thinking?" Dev hissed.

"You can't just go barging in there--"

"Are you two coming, or are you gonna just sit here arguing about it?" Jack cut in, already heading for the door. Devenley and Ochenta stared at each other, smiled, and then whirled out the door after their ‘little' sister.

 

 

"What about Carina?" Kat hissed, securing her ‘toys' in her utility belt.

"She stays here with Doce," Jack replied, tightening the laces on her boots.

"Problem," a third voice spoke. "I'm not staying here."

The two teens looked up from their activities to stare at their older sister.

"You don't honestly thing we believe that you'd come with us on something like this?" Jack hissed, returning to her boots.

"You don't honestly think I'd sit here while you girls go and try and get yourselves killed, do you?" Doce snapped. "Uh-uh. No way, Jacqueline. I'm going with you. I refuse to wield a gun or try to hurt anyone, but I *will* be there if one of you gets hurt. Besides, in case you haven't noticed, there's a war going on. My talents are needed up in space. They could use an extra medic."

"Someone has to stay behind with Carina," Jack grounded out. "And that someone is you, Doc."

"I'm going."

"No you're not!"

"Why don't we just bring her along?" Kat added, staying well away from her sisters' hated glares.

"We can't take her into a war zone!" Jack snapped.

"She can stay with Doc, right?" Kat returned. "I'm sure the med-teams up there could us an extra pair of hands, and--"

"No. It's too dangerous."

"Anymore dangerous than leaving her alone here?" Kat hissed, her eyes watering. "Unless you trust Valdeon that much--"

Kat's hand snatched out and caught Jack's wrist, bare inches away from her cheek. Dark green and hazel sets of eyes burned into each other.

"No," Jack hissed, snatching her arm back. "I don't."

"Then bring her along, it's the only solution," Kat returned.

"She would be useful," Doce added, cutting into the tension that permeated the room.

Jack's body trembled with repressed anger and for a moment, both woman thought she would lash out at them again.

"Fine. She goes. But she *stays* with *you*!" She looked hard into Doc's face, impression her words upon the older woman; and then she was gone, storming out of the small room she shared with Katalynna, mumbling something about prepping their shuttle. In the room behind here, Doce and Kate looked at one another and sighed a breath of relief.

 

 

_My Dearest Friend,_

_This may be the last letter I write to you. The last of many I have written to you over the course of the last months. Letters that I know you will never receive. Sometimes I wonder what you would do, if you ever realized my feelings towards you. If you ever found out that they ran deeper than just admiration of an opponent. You intrigue me--more than any other human being I have ever known. Even more so than my beautiful Milliard. And, as much as I have loved him, I have loved you more. Would that scare you to know? To know that I am in love with a boy, a child really, who I have barely met, barely know? But, I feel as if I do know you. I have loved all five of you pilots, for your skill, your bravery, your honor. But you most of all. I have spent nights, laying awake, thinking of you, thinking of what I would do if you ever came back to me. I would never force you, of course. I wouldn't have to, at least, I hoped not. I always hoped that you would think of me at times, as I often thought of you. Even now, when I should be preparing for war, my thoughts are on you, and I find I cannot concentrate on charts and battle plans without wondering if I will get the chance to see you, at least one last time. I do not expect to live through this battle. I know that I wont. My life will be given up in sacrifice for peace. That is the pact Milliard and I made so many years ago. In truth, I do not want to go on living--as cowardly as that may sound. I do not know how to live in peace, yet I am fighting to attain it. Let others maintain the peace, I will fight for it, I will die for it. Willingly. I have one last request of you, son of dragon. Let my death be at your hands, for it is fitting for the lover to be struck down by the lovéd._  
With Love,  
Trieze Khushrenada

 

###  Part 15: The Devil's Game

 

"Unidentified shuttle you are entering an unauthorized zone."

"Will you believe this bunch of shit?" Dev grumbled, swiping a hand through her short spiky bleach blonde hair. "This is the space ship Shadow Star," she said over the COM unit. "Requesting permission to come aboard."

"Request denied."

Devenley cursed as the cockpit door slid open. "Problems?" Jack asked, sliding into the co-pilot's chair.

"Not at all," Dev replied, fingering the COM unit again. "Any particular reason?" she asked.

"Who is it that wants to know?" a wryly voice shot back. "And why you want on my ship, huh?"

"This is Deven Behr of the Shadow Star, and god dammit, Howard, if you don't let me in I'm gonna--"

The voice on the other end laughed. "I thought that was you, Dev, m'girl. What you do to that ship, huh? I had her in tip-top shape. If I find out you put one scratch on her--"

"Star's fine," Dev smiled. "Actually, we just have some business to take care of with one of your passengers."

"Oh, really, and which one would that be?" Howard asked. "I've seemed to pick up quite a few lately."

"Heero Yuy."

 

 

Heero, Wufei and Trowa had meet in the shuttle bay--mainly because Heero had set down bare minutes after Trowa and the other boy had waited. They nodded to one another, looks passing back and forth between the three, but little was spoken other than a "Barton", "Yuy", or "Chang" in greeting.

Together, they made their way to the Cafeteria--because that's where Howard told them the other two members of their unit were. Obviously, though, the old man hadn't told the other two that they had arrived.

"Trowa!"

A blond ball of energy launched itself into the taller boy's arms. He seemed to expect it, however, in fact, was prepared for it, and a telltale--if small--smile played over his lips. "Hello, Quatre," he said softly, a hand burying into blond waves as two arms wrapped around him like a living band. Quatre continued to hold on to him, even when he turned to greet Heero and Wufei.

"Together again," Duo called, grinning. "Just like one big happy family." Something flickered in all five pairs of eyes. Happiness in a pair of blue-marine, but something more painful in the other four sets. "Well, it's great to see you all again, but if you don't mind, I think I'll head back to my quarters--"

"No."

The single monosyllable, not-surprisingly uttered by Heero, stopped the braided boy in his tracks.

"We need to talk."

Duo's violet eyes narrowed. "Them four deadly words, Heero."

Violet eyes met and held cobalt blues, and then Heero reached behind him, pulled something out, and tossed it onto the table. Duo looked down. "What is it?"

"Files. From White Fangs' databases."

Duo reached out to pick up the disk, holding it up. The COM unit beeped.

"Duo here, what's the problem, old man?"

"Yo, got some people up here who wanna see Heero," Howard's voice filled the room. "And they don't wanna take no for an answer."

Heero frowned. He had a good idea of who it was. By the look on the other's faces, they thought so too. "Who is it?" he asked anyway.

"Calls herself Dev Behr," the old man answered. "Should I let her in?"

"'Behr'?" Heero's frown deepened. How'd they get up here? Dev? That was one of the sisters, if he remembered right. "Go 'head. I'll meet her in Bay 29."

"Sure thing!" Howard called before closing the link.

"You guys stay here, look at that," Heero said, nodding towards the disk in Duo's hands.

"Whadda 'bout you?" Duo called after him.

"I'll be back."

"Yeah, more famous last words," Duo muttered as the door slid shut behind him.

 

 

When the Shooting Star set down in Bay 29, Heero Yuy was there waiting for it, however, he was not prepared for the load of Behrs that came tumbling down the gangplank. All seven sisters filed down; five of them he recognized from his previous... 'visit'.

"How's that arm?" was the first thing said, coming from Doce who had removed the bullet and dressed the gunshot wound in the first place.

"It's fine."

"We were disappointed not to hear from you, Heero," Kat said, pouting seductively.

"Jack said there was a chance you might not come back, but I just knew I'd see you again! And see! I was right! I love being right!" That was the girl, Carina, who practically attached herself to Heero's arm. He stared down at her--she was at least four inches shorter than him--and she smiled up at him.

He looked over at the others.

"That wasn't nice of you," Nita said. "I thought we had a deal." Heero didn't reply. "Well, whatever. We've come to retrieve the files."

"I'm sorry. You must know we can't give them over to you," a new voice rung out, capturing the girls' attention. Quatre walked in, Trowa, Wufei, and Duo behind him, and handed the disk back to Heero. "Some interesting stuff," he said, turning back to the women. "Perhaps you won't mind telling me why you want them."

Five women were immediately on guard. Trowa and Wufei took up casual positions beside the door. Duo came up beside Heero's other side, staring at the girl clinging to the Japanese boy. Nervously, she let go and stepped back until it was the seven sisters facing off with the five boys.

"Well, well, well. Isn't this cozy?" Manic grin in place, hands on hips, Duo rocked back on his heels. "I don't suppose you mind answering the question my friend here asked you. Just what do you want with those White Fang files?"

Eyes narrowed all around, but it was the hazel ones that spoke. "What was in them?" Jack asked.

"That all depends," Duo returned, still grinning.

"On what?" Katalynna yelped, annoyed.

Duo turned to her, his own violet eyes narrowing and turning cold. "On who you're working for and what you plan on doing with 'em, of course."

 

### Part 16: The Road Trip to Hell

 

"Perhaps this conversation would be better suited to another room," Quatre said, his voice invoking no disagreement. "The conference room?"

Jack nodded while the other girls continued to glare at them. The boys' faces--except for Quatre's--remained expressionless, even Duo's. "Of course," she said before following Quatre's lead towards the door. Blair and Nita were first behind her; Kat and Dev behind them. Duo and Heero followed, Carina sidling up close to Heero as they walked, whispering to him all the way. Doce smiled at the two remaining boys, Wufei and Trowa, and then she too turned to leave, Wufei and Trowa falling in behind her.

They filed into the conference room. Jack, Nita, Carina, and Doc taking seats immediately while the other's, Blair, Kat, and Dev, remained standing. Quatre took a seat as well, but the other four boys declined. Once again, Wufei and Trowa took up deceivingly relaxed poses at the door. Heero and Duo stood slightly behind Quatre, one to each of the blonde's shoulders.

"I believe the question was," he said, turning to Jack, immediately recognizing her position in the group, "What do you want with these files?"

"Why do you care?" Carina shot back before any of her sisters could answer.

Quatre turned to the youngest girl there, seated between Jack and Doc, and started. Even though she was easily the youngest girl there, she was older then him, by at least a year. If his smile faltered, it was only for a second.

"White Fang is poising as the will of the colonies," Quatre replied evenly. "And the colonies are our concern."

"Why? Are you from there?"

"Yes," Quatre answered, watching the others from the corner of his eyes as he seemingly focused all his attention upon the girl he was talking to. 'Smart,' he thought. 'Let the young one talk, supposedly putting them all at ease, while sizing up the situation. Very smart indeed. As long as she didn't say too much...'

"Cool! So are we, we're from the L4 area!" Carina sprouted excitedly.

"Yes, I know," Quatre replied, smiling easily. "That's where Behr Industries originated from."

Some of the girls started at that, he noticed, and he hid his smirk, wondering how many of them knew who he was. Even if they knew or suspected he was a Gundam pilot, did they know who *he* was? A part of him relished their reactions when he told them. Standing up, he extended his hand to the girl.

"Hello...?"

"Carina," the girl supplied, standing to take his hand.

"Hello, Carina Behr. I'm Quatre Raberba Winner." Hisses, quick intake of breaths, teeth sucking, fed his ears. He lowered his mental defenses enough to 'feel' each of the women out. Animosity, yes, he expected that. Quiet disdain, yes, that, too. Amusement, that surprised him, but then, the older girl, Doce, wasn't here for the same reason her sisters were. He could 'feel' it. But what really surprised him was the pang of lust. He took his seat again, searching out the faces for the one that belonged to that emotion, smiling when he caught the dark haired girl who was staring over his shoulder.

'Well, well, well, Heero, racking up the tallies, aren't you?' he thought, turning back to face Jack. "And the colonies are very much my concern," he continued as if a hundred different thoughts hadn't crossed his mind in the gap of mere seconds.

"I bet," someone sneered. "After all," Blaire said as she uncrossed and crossed her arms, "if something happens to the colonies, WEI flops."

"Actually," Quatre continued to smile. "Quite the opposite. You see, WEI's largest fraction deals with mining. If something were to happen to the colonies, then there would be an outcry for more building materials and business for WEI would increase. Of course," he added, leaning back in his chair, hands folded in his lap, looking all the businessman save for that pink shirt and violet vest. "If something *were* to happen to the colonies, I would see to it their reconstruction was from gundamium alloy so as to ensure nothing further could physically harm them."

Someone else hissed and calculating eyes searched out the five young males in the room with a new understanding. "Shit."

"Quiet," Jack snapped.

"Maybe now you're willing to cooperate?" Quatre asked smoothly, facing the dark haired young woman in charge of the band of females. "Why do you care about White Fang, and more importantly, why did you want those files?"

 

 

The door to his private quarters slid open unannounced. He didn't have to ask who it was. There was only one person audacious enough to enter his private quarters without asking first. He swallowed a bone-weary sigh.

"What is it, Dorothy?" he asked, his voice betraying his weariness of the situation he found himself in.

"Mr. Milliardo," Dorothy said, her voice deceptively soft. "The men think they might have found a lead on the hacker from earlier."

"Oh? Really? And tell me," he said, swiveling his chair around to face the blonde girl. "What have they found? The hacker? The information he hacked into? What?" There was a barely contained strand of anger that laced his words.

The girl was not oblivious to it. She bowed her head in difference to him. "I am sorry, Mr. Milliardo."

"Don't be sorry, dammit!" he shouted, pushing up from his chair in a burst of energy. "Find me answers, Dorothy!"

"Of course," she whispered. The door hissed open and shut after her.

He whirled around, stalking to the space-black window. One hand lifted of its own accord and brushed along the cold pane of glass. 'Noin...' he rested his forehead beside his fingers. "I need you..." he whispered.

 

### Part 17: The Road Trip to Hell Continues

 

Wufei bowed his head, better to study the seven women unnoticed. To his right, Trowa was doing the same thing.  _'Of course, that hair of his makes it easier. Maybe I should start leaving *my* hair down...'_

One of the women hissed, suddenly realizing the position she was in.  _'Yes. That's right. You have just successfully walking into the dragon's lair, woman,'_  he thought, hiding the smirk that was inclined to show. He looked up, his eyes falling over Duo, gobbling up the site.  _'Gods, he still looks good. This last week must have done him good.'_  Wufei swallowed, onyx eyes darting over and past the small blond. It looked right. It looked like it belonged like that. Those two, standing side-by-side. They *were* partners after all, right?

Wufei swallowed again, and as if feeling the weight of his stare, cobalt blue eyes focused on him. For one, intense moment, those eyes held his, and then they looked away. Wufei nearly sagged against the wall.  _'This can't go on,'_  he thought just as he heard Quatre ask, "Why do you care about White Fang, and more importantly, why did you want those files?"

"Let's just say we have no love for White Fang," Jack said, folding her hands in her lap and leaning back in her seat, mocking Quatre's calm poise.

"I see," Quatre responded, calmly, his lips twitching minimally. "And what were you planning on doing with these files?"

Jack's own lips worked. "Why, sell them to they highest bidder, of course," she replied.

Quatre refrained from laughing aloud. He liked the girl. She had a good head on her shoulders, smart mouth. And she had no intention of selling those files. Well, no, he took that back. She would have sold those files--after all, they would have pulled in a pretty penny--but that wasn't her sole reason for wanting the files.

"Do you know what are in those files?" he asked, his voice cool, in control, the smooth talker. From the corner of his eye he saw both Wufei and Trowa tense--unnoticed by the girls. When the door slid open, he was prepared for it, the girls, however, jumped, startled.

"Quatre? Sally and I were--" Noin's voice fell dead as she eyed the unexpected company. Her indigo eyes narrowed on one of the young woman sitting.

"Hello, Lu-lu," Jack taunted, smirking up at the standing woman.

If possible, Noin's glare grew colder. Behind her, Sally Po drew up short, before gently pushing the glaring woman completely into the room.

"Sally?"

The sandy-haired Chinese woman looked up, scanning the room, before breaking out into a large smile. "Doc!" she called before rushing to embrace the older woman.

"Ooh, look. Another family reunion," Duo commented under his breath, so only Quatre and Heero could hear him. The blond hid behind his hand, bowing his head slightly. The Japanese man just spared a brief glance towards the braided boy before staring steadily forward.

"Well, it seems like you're quite familiar," Wufei replied a bit snidely, eyeing the two hugging woman.

Sally pulled back, still grinning, her arm around Doc's waist. "You could say that." Her head bobbed. "Doce, here, and I were friends in medical school, back when the Alliance was still allied."

Doc laughed. "No one could understand why I would take up with such a rugrat."

Sally just shrugged. "They were just jealous because I was the youngest person to get accepted into the doctorates program."

"You were fourteen!" Doc laughed. "Everyone else was 20! Plus you outranked everyone on the exams."

"Well, is it my fault I knew the stuff? No. I just--"

"This is all touching and all," Duo drawled, cutting into the two's friendly dialogue. "And I hate to interrupt, really I do, but, we *were* talking shop here."

Sally looked up, looked at the gathering, and frowned. "Who's attacking now?"

"You know, a little of this, a little of that... White Fang threatening to destroy the Earth, and all that jazz."

The Chinese woman grimaced. "He's still not retracted that, huh?"

"No," Quatre spoke up. "And it seems like things may have gotten a bit more complicated than we had foreseen."

"Don't see how that's possible," she mumbled.

Quatre opened his mouth to say something, but then decided against it. Instead he looked at the youngest, Carina. Her face was innocent; her soul was innocent, untainted by the war that had affected everyone else in the room. He looked back towards Sally and the older woman, Doce.

"Perhaps," he said, suggestively, "you would like to show your friend around Peacemillion?" He turned back towards Carina. "And, perhaps you would care to join them? It's a very large ship and Howard's done an exceptionally fine job with her."

The girl frowned. "But I want to--"

"Go." Jack turned and smiled, easing the bite from her bark. "Go exploring with Doc and then, when you come back, you can tell us all about it, no?"

"But I want to stay here."

"We're just going to..." Jack smiled, darting a look towards the braided boy, "talk shop. Nothing that you would find interesting." The girl continued to pout but raggedly pulled herself to her feet.

Sally spared a pointed look towards Quatre before ushering both sisters from the room.

"You can stop glaring at anytime," Jack said snidely.

"What are you doing here?" Noin practically growled.

Jack turned in her swivel chair. "*I* have *business* here. What about you?"

Noin's indigo eyes narrowed and then she took a deep breath and looked away. "Hello guys," she said to the three returned pilots. "It's great to have you back again. Howard's already sent crews down to take care of your--things," she stumbled.

"It's alright, Noin," Quatre smiled, motioning for her to take a seat. "I'm actually glad you came. There's something I'd like for you to see as well. Heero?"

The Japanese boy came forward, the disk Quatre had returned to him earlier miraculously materializing in his hand. He slid it into the table port and a holographic projection bloomed to life in the center of the table.

Noin gasped; the other five women made noises. "That's Epyon," Noin whispered.

"Correction," Quatre told her gently. "That's Scorpio." Indigo eyes went flying towards his face and he held her disbelieving gaze. "White Fang's new mobile doll design, based off of Epyon."

 

### Part 18: The Eighth Sign

 

"Scorpio...... Noin breathed.

"Yep, regular old demon. Chip off the old block,... Duo mocked, crossing his arms, a cold smile shaping his lips. "Completely equipped with ZERO system to complete every one of your worst nightmares....

"Hn....

"The only good thing about these files,... Quatre continued as though without interruption, "is that they include the estimated completion date....

"Estima--"

Quatre smiled. "Scorpio is in the process of being built, but it hasn´t been completed or tested yet....

"Which means,... Trowa spoke up for the first time. "There´s a chance to stop it before it can become a problem....

"Ninmu Ryoukai....

 

 

_My Eternal Friend,_

_I do not kid myself by believing you will back down, and I know myself too well to know what I will do._

_I will die before the next day._

_It is a strange feeling to know one will die, and yet, I am not scared._

_Sad? Yes, perhaps._

_There are many things that I have not yet done that I would like to. It is sad to think I will never get the chance to do so._

_It is sad to think that this might be the last letter I will ever write to you--the last letter you will never receive..._

_You think to die, too, I´m sure--we were always so much a like... and yet nothing alike._

_No, my dearest Milliard. You will live through this final battle, I know, I am sure. You will live because you have the strength to survive._

_I always envied you that, did you know? Your strength. Your beauty, your grace... those things I at least could stand a chance against, for, beauty is only skin deep and grace can be taught... And yet, I never stood a chance against you. I never could. Your beauty transcends the skin and permeates your soul. You radiate, my friend. That is why others long to be beside you. Even I was not immune to your charms._

_I don´t think I minded much._

_I loved you. I love you still. I will always love you, my dear Milliard, in a way I could love no other, for my love for you is special._

_I like to think that you are carrying out the role you want in this farce of a war._

_No, not farce. This is real, isn´t it?_

_I hate it, you must know. It makes me sick, as I know it does you. But we agreed, so many nights ago... didn´t we?_

_I had almost forgot. I had almost forgot that night--what was it? Five? Six years ago? When the Specials was still something new and special. That night we sat up--like so many other nights..._

_Did you know then, Milliard? Were you foreseeing our future that night? You might as well have been, for look at us now: separated by war, leaders of our own sides, standing, facing one another... just as you told..._

_The foretelling of the end of all wars... the War to End all Wars..._

_I laughed at you then... do you remember? I said it was just a fanciful story... but I never really forgot... I lay awake at night in my lonely bed and think back on the many conversations we have shared... Last night, I remembered that one... that was the same night you told me of your past... of your legacy..._

_Have you laughed yet, Milliard, at the irony of it? A Peacecraft? Leading a civilization not of his birth into war?_

_I have. Not at you, of course, my dear friend. No, not at you, but at the irony, yes. I can only imagine how this must be tearing you apart insides..._

_Are you all alone?_

_I hope not... I pray that Lucrezia is there with you, supporting you, for she is a part of your strength. I have always liked her. Smart, witty. Just what you need, my friend. After all, behind every good man is a good woman, ne? I have my Lady and you have your Lieutenant._

_Yes..._

_It is late now, and I should be getting my beauty sleep. No sense going to war with ugly bags under my eyes, ne?_

_Do me one thing, Milliard, my Milliard..._

_Live._

_Live through this battle, this war... because I know your strength and courage will be needed in its aftermath. You will be needed to help put out the fires of discord this war has caused... And then... you will fulfill your own legacy... as the creator of Peace... a true Peacecraft._

_Your Friend,_

_Trieze Khushrenada_

 

### Part 19: Battle Plans

 

"Which means," Trowa's calm voice trapped everyone's attention. "There's a chance to stop it before it can become a problem."

"Ninmu Ryoukai."

"No, wait, Heero!" Quatre called out, reaching out for the Japanese boy before he could get away. "We need you here. We need you and Wing Zero to go against Zechs."

"I won't need Zero to destroy those suits," the stoic boy stated. "I'll leave it here."

"And who would fly it?" Duo snapped, hands on hips as he rocked backwards. "I sure as hell ain't getting in that thing again, that's for sure."

The Japanese boy frowned at the braided boy and then turned calmly to the blond Arabian. "You will."

Normally on the pale side, Quatre turned dead white. His throat tightened, making speech impossible, which was just as well since Duo was already replying for him.

"Ah, nice one there, but I don't think any of us wanna be around if blondie gets back in that thing. Right, Trowa? Back me up on this one."

Color flooded the blond's cheeks as baby blues darted to the uni-banged-young man's face. Wisely, green eyes were looking elsewhere and the normally quiet boy remained quiet.

"Heero, you're needed here," Quatre managed to say finally, turning back to face the Japanese boy. "Especially if Zechs decides to fight with Epyon."

Already frowning, Heero's frown deepened. "He'll fight," he admitted lowly, conceding his need to stay.

"Duo should go," Quatre continued, seeing Heero's acceptance. "With Trowa or Wufei. It's a simple 'get in, plant some explosives, get out, watch the place go boom!' operation."

"Sounds right up my alley!" the braided boy grinned.

"No."

All eyes turned and focused on the young Lieutenant.

"No," Noin repeated. "It's silly to send you guys away from the battle like that. All of you are needed most *here*."

"If you ask me," another voice cut in, "it sounds like you don't want those new mobile suits to be destroyed at all..." Jacqueline Behr leaned back in her chair, her arms crossed, and glared at her. "Admit it. You would do anything for that blond jerk!"

<<SMACK!!!>>

Jack touched her raw cheek gingerly, eyes wide, and then dark eyes narrowed farther. The four other women in the room made noises sounding like a hybrid of growls and hisses which were silenced by one raised hand from the seventeen-year-old. "I dare you to do that again," Jack growled.

"You're not worth the energy," Noin spat back.

Jack was on her feet, her chair toppling over. Noin was right there to meet her. Before either woman could touch the other, two boys were pushing them back and away.

"Is he such a good fuck you would screw over the entire earth?!"

"Wouldn't you like to know?!"

"Ha! As if! I wouldn't want a piece of that whore-mongrel if he was the last man on Earth *or* the colonies!"

"Ha! Is that why you were fucking stalking him!"

"As if I had to *stalk* *any* man!"

"Oh? And what do you call crawling into someone's bed uninvited?"

"I *never*--"

"Fine! Whatever! *I* wasn't the one thrown out of the Academy!"

"*You* had me *kicked* out!!!"

"*Zechs* had you kicked out... for *sexual harassment* as I recall!"

"You were just scared of some competition!"

"Ha! As if! You dumb slut! You weren't even a rival! You must of have been the only one in our class who didn't get it! Zechs and Trieze were sleeping together! *You* never had a chance!"

If Noin managed to break free from Wufei's hold, it was more because of the Chinese boy's shock than of actually skill or strength. The other woman had stopped resisting and Trowa maneuvered her back into her chair where she stayed, staring at a panting Noin.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Run that by me one more time," Duo's voice snapped, breaking their glares. "Zechs... and *Trieze*? Sleeping together? As in, *lovers*???"

Noin sighed and dropped back into her own chair.

"Talk about a thin line between love and hate!"

"But, Miss Noin," Quatre began gently, his face puzzled. "I thought that..."

"Me and Zechs?" Noin smiled wanly. "Best friends, for over ten years."

"Zechs... and *Trieze*?" Duo repeated. "Fucking?" Feeling the weight of several glares, Duo looked up. "What? What did I say?"

Several sighs emitted throughout the room.

"As, um, fascinating as this new bit of information is," Quatre said, swallowing over his words. "I think we should try and get back to the matter of how to handle the Scorpios." He looked over to Noin. "I agree that the Gundams *are* needed here in the battlefield, but it can't be helped, Miss Noin. Those Scorpios *need* to be destroyed before that are fully functional."

"I can go," the young Lieutenant replied. "Sally and I can go in and--"

"It is too dangerous for a woman," Wufei snapped.

Noin turned in her seat. "It's a simple operation, Wufei!"

"I do not care." The Chinese boy crossed his arms over his chest. "Besides, you, too, are needed here in battle."

"We can do it."

All eyes turned to the strawberry blonde leaning back against the wall, arms crossed, chin down to her chest, eyes closed, one knee bent, foot against the wall. Yellow-green eyes creased open, scanning the room, and then she pushed off the wall.

"I'm packing enough kick to blow this entire ship up," Blaire calmly informed them. "I don't think a few unmanned, immobile mobile suits should be a problem."

"She's right, you know," Kat said, turning towards Jack. "It would probably be real easy to sneak into wherever it is they're making these things without notice since most everyone's all caught up in this big old war."

Nita smirked. "And White Fang's security programs are laughable. I can tap into their system without them being any the wiser."

"It's an easy task," Dev added. "In, out, and a fire works show, too."

Jack frowned. "We *could*..." she admitted.

"So why don't we?" Kat shot back.

Jack turned back to face the others at the table. "One thousand credits--for supplies."

Quatre leaned forward, folding his hands on the table. "Five hundred--for labor. We provide the supplies."

"Nine--we like our own."

"Seven-fifty--you take some of our people with you."

"How many?"

"At least three."

"Do you have that many to spare?"

Quatre grinned, leaning back in his chair. "I wouldn't offer if I didn't."

"Deal."

"Deal."

They shook on it across the table. Outside the room, Carina gasped and the high-tailed it back to the Shooting Star.

 

### Part 20: Aboard Libra

 

About the same time the space ship Shooting Star was leaving Peacemillion, another ship was approaching the battle ship Libra.

"I know you'll be angry, Duo," Hilde said softly to the empty cockpit of the 'borrowed' cruiser, "but I need to fight in my own way too..."

~~~Flashback: 2 days ago~~~

Duo woke up feeling strangely lethargic. Okay, well, no, that's untrue. Duo *usually* woke up lethargic in the morning, but this morning was still... different. Maybe it was the sweet smelling sheets that weren't the ones normally on his bed, or the weird, erotic dream he'd had of him and Hilde--yeah, now that was *definitely* strange...

"Wake up, sleepy-head. I have breakfast ready--unless of course, you don't *want* blueberry pancakes..."

Two violet eyes popped open automatically with the promise of food--and the braided teenager nearly jumped out of his skin.

The reason why his sheets smelled different was because they *weren't* his sheets--they were Hilde's. And he was in Hilde's bed. And he was naked. And Hilde was standing by him, dressed, staring down at him.

Duo's stomach did funny little flip-flops as the realization that that strange, erotic dream *wasn't* a dream...

"Come on, Duo," she bossed, tugging at the sheets that were his only shield against complete, utter, and total embarrassment. "I need to wash the sheets and I can't do that with you still in 'em. Besides, you've slept the morning away. Didn't you want to help the sweepers clean out sector 36?"

Duo sat up, a hand smashing his face in before pushing his bangs back. "Um, yeah, yeah, I'm up, I´m up," he mumbled, trying to think of a way to get downstairs to his room and into clothes without having to walk around the small house naked. "Where are my clothes?" he asked, looking around at the spotless floor.

"In the dryer," Hilde answered, tugging at the sheets again. "Now, up!"

He 'eeped' and jumped up, dragging the flat sheet with him. Hilde sighed and turned to look at him.

"Duo..."

"Um, Hilde, do you, ah, mind?" he asked, fumbling to wrap the sheets around him.

She just looked at him, frowning. "Duo, what do you think you're doing?"

"I'm, ah, just going to go and get dressed," he replied, smiling, winking, and flashing her a 'V' sign before ducking out the door, leaving the dark-haired girl alone in her bedroom.

Hilde sighed again, muttering to herself. "Unbelievable. It's not like I haven't seen him naked already..." She shook her head. "And they say *women* are body-shy..."

 

 

Duo ate his pancakes--drowned in syrup--in silence.

"I was thinking," he said suddenly, his voice erupting into the quietude as he pushed the last blueberry square across his plate. "I need to get back with the others. I mean, there's still a war going on and all and I need to get back into the fight before I miss all the fun."

Hilde placed the plate she was drying back in the cupboard. "I was wondering how long you were going to stay away from the front lines."

His head shot up and he looked at her sharply, looking for any hidden meaning behind her comment. She sighed and tossed the dishtowel on the table, leaning back against the counter.

"Duo, you're a gundam pilot, and the gundams are needed on the front lines--not that we don't appreciate your help here, but, let's face it. This war can't last forever--no matter how it seems. You're needed... and I'll come along to help."

"Huh? What? Oh, no," Duo's mouth caught up with his brain. "Uh-uh, no way," he said, pushing to his feet and taking his plate to the sink. "You ain't going anywhere near the front lines, Hilde. You're gonna stay right here like a good girl."

"Like hell, I--"

"Hilde!" Duo turned, catching her shoulders and shaking her. "Listen to me! I have to fight this war. You don't. I have to fight this war and I need to do it in my own way. I have to fight as a Gundam pilot protecting the colonies. If you come along I'd just be Duo protecting Hilde."

"Duo..." she whispered.

He sighed and dropped his hands, pushing past her. "I'm going to be heading back to Peacemillion," he said, pausing at the doorway. "Don't try and follow me, Hilde, I mean it."

 

 

She pulled the disk free from the computer port, taking it safely into her vest as she began making her way back to the hanger bay. Now all she had to do was highjack another cruiser, blast out of here, and get this data to Duo. Surely they would be able to use this data--making their job all the more easier.

"Heero?" a girl asked softly.

The name stopped Hilde's thoughts. Why did that name sound familiar? She remained hidden behind an outcropping, listening easily to the other two girls.

"I wonder which one would win?" the second girl asked, something in her voice making Hilde's skin crawl. "The Gundam... or the mobile doll with the same pilot's data?"

'Gundam...?' Hilde gasped, but the first girl's voice masked her slip.

"Heero will not lose" the first girl asserted. Silently, Hilde agreed. After all, if he was a Gundam pilot...

"Yes, he is strong," the second blonde girl was saying. "Well, I must be going, I have work to do. Please do take your time to look around."

Hilde waited until she was sure the second girl was gone before she approached the first. "Do you know a Gundam pilot?" she asked. Seeing the look on the other girl's face, she had her answer.

 

 

The sandy-blonde girl had led her to a private room--Hilde was surprised. Apparently the girl had some type of status on the enemy ship, but if she knew a gundam pilot...

"It's dangerous to be here," the girl said calmly. Too calmly, Hilde thought. "You should get out soon."

"Yes, I'll do that," she replied, checking the corridor. "I have to give them this data I gathered on Libra." The door slid shut again and Hilde looked at the other girl, studying her. She *seemed* nice... maybe she was just, deceived by White Fang or something. Trapped here.

"Why don't you come with me?" she asked the girl. "You want to meet that pilot, don't you?" 'Just as much as I want to see Duo again, I bet,' she added silently.

"No, I can't do that," the girl replied and Hilde frowned. "I have something I need to do."

"Really?" she asked. 'So do I--and I can't wait around here all day trying to change you're mind.' "Well, I'm off!" She paused. They'd never introduced... and if she *did* get to Duo, she could at least tell him that this girl was here, right? "What's you name?" she asked, and watched amusedly as the other rose to her feet.

"Relena Peacecraft," the girl replied evenly, regally, even.

Hilde's heart stopped, and then began racing. 'The Queen,' was her first thought. She swallowed, forcing a small smile to the girl who was probably younger than herself. "Take care," she whispered.

"You too."

And then she was gone.

 

### Part 21: Berh Continuum

 

A finger tapped impatiently against the desk as he waited for his call to be put through. One hand raised and slicked back his already gelled-smooth dark auburn hair, trimmed at his shoulders. Flashing grey eyes continued to study the so-far-blank screen.

He knew it was a display of power and authority that kept him waiting--just as he knew there wasn't a thing he could do about it--yet. But as soon as this deal was over, he'd be the person in power. That's why this deal was so important.

Nothing near as prosperous as the deals his father had handled before their world had been sold to the highest bidder.

But it was a start.

The screen flickered and flashed.

"Well, what is it?"

"I'm checking in, as ordered," he said meekly, hating himself for it. He lowered his eyes, more because he hated looking at the disgustingly ugly man than out of reverence to him.

"Hn. Very well. And what is your report?"

"I am on my way now to Margolaine," he replied. "I plan on increasing production." He looked up, his grey eyes meeting with the white-haired man's wrinkled, faded eyes. "The Scorpios should be ready within two weeks."

"Not good enough! We need those suits now. You have one week to get them finish or--"

Valdeon cut the connection and spat. "Asshole. Fine, if that's what he wants, that's what he'll get."

He checked the coordinates again for the abandoned colony where the Scorpio mobile dolls were being constructed--thanks to him.

 

 

She had overheard them talking, quite purposefully on her part, and she knew one thing for certain--she wasn't going to be left behind and miss all the fun.

She knew her sisters weren't... normal. That wasn't to say there was anything wrong with them. It was just that... well, how many girls do you know who knew how to do stuff that one would normally only see in the movies or in some book. Let's face it, Katalynna and Jack could kick anyone's ass--she knew, she'd seen them do it before. Blaire could identify any type of armaments just from its retort--and she knew just the right amount of firepower to make anything go boom! Those things just weren't... well, weren't normal.

Out of all the girls, Nita, Doc, and herself were probably the most normal... Okay, so maybe Doc was a bit too smart... and Nita too good with electronics... but, there certainately wasn't anything out of the ordinary about a girl who was good at gymnastics, right?

The truth was, until a couple of years ago--okay, one and a half--she hadn't known any of her sisters. She'd lived in New Chicago at a boarding school for girls ever since she could remember. And then, one day, as if all her prayers were suddenly being answered, Jacqueline Behr had showed up and told her she was coming home with her. And she had left the school she had grown up in, quite happily. Jack was her savior--at least, that's how Carina saw her.

When she had met her other sisters for the first time, she had been a bit taken back by them--they were... cool, distant, mean to each other... but there was a bond between them. It was a bond that did not extend to herself. The girls would disappear for days or weeks, and then return without explanation--sometimes looking worse for the wear. Doce would just patch the girls back up. No one would ever answer any of her questions and, eventually, she stopped asking.

Carina couldn't--or wouldn't--stop asking. In fact, in the first months she'd been with her sisters, their silence had been awkward, uncomfortable to the young girl. After all, she was used to living in a boarding school--with lots of girls. Even in the dead of night there was always some noise... She had just naturally begun to fill the void.

When they had to leave their home on L4, she was only told that the house was being sold. She didn't know a lot about the family business, but she knew some. And it didn't take a smart person to see the newsfeeds and realize what had happened. They left L4 and floated from place to place. Carina didn't mind all the traveling--it was fun. An adventure.

And the girl did so love adventure.

That's why, when she realized her sisters were planning on going out again on one of their... excursions... she slipped back into the Shooting Star and hid, hoping not to be found anytime soon.

 

### Part 22: Premonitions of the Decisive Battle

 

They were uncomfortable--but you couldn't tell it from looking at them. In fact, they looked quite cozy hanging out in the lounge, sipping drinks, a chessboard stretched between Trowa and Duo.

"Howard said the engine repairs are almost complete," Quatre told them, hoping to get someone to talk--even Duo was unnaturally quiet since the shuttle carrying the five Behr sisters had left.

"I see." The blond looked at the Japanese boy, but Heero said no more, continuing to stare at his drink.

"I must say, Howard does a real good job," Duo spoke up, not looking away from the board. "I'd better decide my next move, too..." he murmured.

"I hope this will let us catch up," Trowa said, reaching across the board to make his move.

"And this strategy would be...?" Duo shot a glance towards his opponent, almost smirking with delight. He was about to make his move when Wufei stepped in and made it for him.

"It's a good move," Wufei said, leaning back against the wall again. "Offense is the greatest defense."

Their eyes meet and held--and then broke away.

"If you think only of protecting, you'll get tied down," Wufei continued, ignoring the lace of pain being so close to the boy created in him. A weakness, surely, but one he didn't want to go away.

"Thanks for your great advice," Duo murmured, and then looked over his shoulder. "Heero? How 'bout you?" he asked, trying to draw the other into a conversation as well. It had been too long--over two weeks. And he missed even the annoying little 'hns' the Japanese boy would voice.

But Heero was silent, lost in his own musings. Something wasn't right about that Scorpio plant... there was something he was missing...

"What's wrong Heero?" Quatre asked, frowning. "Is something bothering you?"

The vicinity alarms prevented the pilot from answering.

"Damn, we're out-maneuvered again!" Duo cursed.

"Let's go," Quatre shouted, and like a gunshot, they were off, each to their own gundam.

 

 

It was the voice. He knew that voice...

<<... Peacemillion... Please... answer me! Duo!>>

"Hilde!" he called, as if his voice could help the screaming girl.

"Duo, go!" Quatre called over the com unit.

"But--"

"Hurry!" the blond yelled. "We'll take care of the rest," he reassured the braided boy.

"Sorry," Duo murmured, already turning DeathScythe towards the coordinates scrolling across his screen. "And thanks..."

He thought he was going to be too late--another loved one, taken away from him--and a surge of anger fed up through his entire being, pushing DeathScythe on farther, faster until the huge dark mecha slipped between the battered Taurus suit and the killing laser fire that would have signed its death.

"Hilde? You alive?" he called. He couldn't hide the relief her voice drifting through his speaker seconds later bathed him in--and then, it was time to fight. It was a surprise that any mobile doll could be so good--even if it *was* programmed with data from a gundam pilot.

"You'd better take *my* data if you're gonna make them next time," he whispered to the corpsed Mercurius and Vayeate, and then his attention was brought back to the paralyzed and free-drifting Taurus suit. "Hilde! Hey, Hilde! Answer me, damn you! Hilde!"

_~~Everyone who loves me, dies... don't curse yourself like that~~_

"Duo," a weak but distinct voice finally answered him. "Oh, good... you're safe..."

"And you're in such a state," he whispered back, his fingers lifting to the vid screen that flickered to life with her banged and battered image. Nothing like the girl he'd left on L2 just a few days ago... "What the hell did you come here for?" he growled, trying to hide the tears in his voice.

"I... I brought Libra's data," she answered, wincing as she held up the tiny disk that had almost cost her her life.

Duo could have hit her if she was right there in front of him. "W-Why'd you do such a thing...!"

She sent him a smile, weak, but definite smile. "Well," she whispered hoarsely. "I... wanted to..." She dragged in a deep breath, forcing her lungs to take in the life-giving oxygen.

"You... you damn idiot," he growled... furious at her for risking her life like that... and proud as hell to know her.

"I thought you'd... say that... " she breathed before falling unconscious.

 

 

Duo was at her side when the medic team came to take her away. He was there for her to wake up and squeeze her hand; there to hear her whisper 'don't worry' and 'Relena... Peacecraft... is on ... Libra.'

That last definitely caught his attention. "I saw her," Hilde sighed. "Talked with her." Her eyed drifted shut again. "She seemed... nice... nothing like I thought... she'd be..."

And then she was whisked away from him, and he couldn't help but worry.  _'Please, Hilde,'_  he prayed.  _'Make it through this one. I couldn't forgive myself if you didn't...'_

"We won't waste the data that she brought for us," Quatre tried to reassure him. But it was a weak condolence if the girl died, he knew.

"Yeah," Duo murmured, not looking away from the stretcher until it wheeled into the lift.

"Heero?" he called, looking over his shoulder. "Relena Peacecraft is on Libra."

He didn't know why he did it. Why he felt the need to tell the other boy that, especially knowing what he knew about the girl and him. Maybe he really was a masochist at heart--'cause the look on the other boy's face when he told him, fed directly into his chest and tried to carve his heart in halves.

 

### Part 23: The Devil's Confusion

 

The four gundams were already docked into their assigned bays when Duo's voice came over the speakers.

"I'm gonna need a medic! And quick!"

Four heads immediately snapped up from their surveillance of their gundams, eyes locking on the hanger bay's wide doors expectantly. Heero climbed out of Zero's cockpit; Wufei jumped down to the catwalk below Altron. Quatre joined Trowa at the foot of Sandrock.

Almost on cue, DeathScythe and a battered Taurus suit appeared, the large black gundam cradling the smaller suit.

"Hurry up!" the braided boy shouted to the waiting medic team as he jumped down from his cockpit with ease provided by the lesser gravity on Peacemillion. He was bouncing back up to the front of the Taurus suit, pulling at the hatch with his bare hands until it came free, the pilot falling practically into his arms.

The other four pilots hovered curiously around the suit's feet, staring up at the braided boy and--and... girl?

Duo pulled away, cradling the pilot until the med team took her from him, and even then, he stayed by her side as they wheeled her away--stopping only to toss a disk to Quatre, telling the blond boy that there was the information for the battleship Libra that the Sandrock pilot had mentioned 'dying' to get his hands on.

The other four followed him, slightly curious of the girl, and more than just a bit concerned for their friend. They caught up with him at the airlift.

Heero swallowed hard, watching the braided boy hover over the girl so much that he felt sick. A part of him realized he was jealous. He wondered if Duo would ever hover over him like that if he was hurt in battle. Probably not, he thought, unconsciously fingering his arm where a bullet had pierced the skin ten months ago.

Ten months. Had he really known the braided boy for that long? Why did it seem so much longer? Why did it seem like nothing at all?

He watched the braided pilot lean over the stretcher, moving closer to the girl's face until her lips brushed his cheek, his lips, hers. Heero swallowed down the sickness that pierced through him. Who was this girl? How did Duo know her? What was she to the braided pilot? They seemed awfully familiar with one another.

The airlift arrived and the girl was whisked away, leaving Duo behind. The boy in question stared after the closed doors. Quatre said something, but Heero really didn't hear what. His focus was too intent upon the boy who disturbed him so.

And then the boy turned around, looking at him.

"Relena Peacecraft is on Libra."

 

 

"Sometimes those two are so much alike! Argh! I want to scream!" she grounded out, pacing angrily. "How did she even *get* there? That's what I want to know!"

"There's nothing that can be done about it now," he said calmly.

"You don't understand, Quatre!"

"Noin, please--"

"No! You don't understand! To many people on Earth, Relena *is* peace," the dark haired woman snapped. "If the Earth Forces find out that their former Queen is *on* Libra, it will seriously handicap their performance!"

"I *do* understand that, Noin," the blond boy returned, still trying to be calm, but the strain of recent events were even beginning to take their toll on *him*. "But there is *nothing* we can do for her now. All we can hope for is that she can remain safe onboard Libra until Earth Forces can get to her."

Heero pushed away from the wall outside the room, leaving the voices of the two arguing strategists behind him without their ever having noticed his presence. He wasn't quite sure yet what to think.

What was she trying to accomplish? Getting onto Libra and placing herself in danger? Not only that, but putting the Earth Forces in a bind like that...

Did she do it on purpose? Was she abandoning her beliefs of pacifism in favor of her brother's psychotic plans?

No... Relena might be a bit psychotic herself... but she would never abandon her beliefs. He was sure of that.

So why was she on Libra?

To try and reason with Zechs--no, Milliardo, of course. To try and change his mind.

That would prove useless, though, he thought.

And then he looked up, realizing for the first time where he was--in the hanger bay.

Wing Zero loomed up before him--impressive to anyone who wasn't used to it; shining even in the darkness of the hanger bay. He studied the large mecha for a moment.

'The former Queen *on* Libra will seriously handicap the Earth's offenses against White Fang....'

'I *do* understand that,' Quatre's sweet voice answered back. 'But there's nothing we can do about that now...'

"But there's something *I* can do," he whispered. "Relena..."

 

 

He walked into the room, careful not to make too much sound. He succeeded too well. The braided boy jumped when he brushed Duo's shoulder.

"Oh! 'Fei, didn't hear ya come in," Duo mumbled, turning back in his chair to watch the bed. Or, more precisely, the unconscious girl laying on the bed. His hands were clasped as if in prayer, pressing against his lips; his elbows propped up on his knees as he hunched forward in the chair.

Duo didn't pull away from his touch--that was a glimmer of hope for the Altron pilot. Taking confidence in that small gesture, he pressed closer, moving up beside the other pilot, letting his hand slide completely over the boy's shoulder, fitting it into his palm; his fingers wrapping around and slightly exerting *just* enough pressure, and completely relishing the simple physical contact. The only contact between them since--

"Who is she?" he asked, his voice just above a whisper.

"Her name's Hilde," Duo said, his voice scratchy before he cleared his throat. "Lives on L2, like me. I holed up at her place a couple-a times now. Nice girl."

And with that, the normally talkative boy fell quiet. Wufei, not much of a talker himself, was at a loss of what to say next--but the other boy didn't seem to mind, so, he just stayed there, like that, his hand resting on the sitting boy's shoulder as he stood, both watching the silent bed.

And then--Duo's head fell against Wufei's arm, shocking the Chinese pilot. "It'll be my fault if she dies," he whispered hoarsely, his voice thick with tears that refused to fall. "I should have know better. She's just like me. L2, through and through. Pure, stubborn, American. Always have to do the exact opposite of what we're told."

He swallowed, but didn't cry.

"Really?" Wufei asked somewhat wondrously, his other hand coming up unconsciously to caress Duo's cheek. Duo turned into the touch without thought.

"Really..."

"So if I told you... to... stay away from me...?"

Wufei's eyes searched the shimmering violet depths of the boy before him. Duo stared back, studying the face of the Chinese boy.

And then he reached out, his fingers brushing against Wufei's cheek. "You'd have one hell of a time trying getting me to leave..." His hand slipped around Wufei's neck, pulling gently enough to bring the Chinese boy's face closer to his. He leaned up, his eyes beginning to shut.

"Are you so sure?" Wufei's breath brushed over his cheek.

"No," Duo whispered back. "I ain't sure of anything anymore," he admitted before pressing his lips to Wufei's.

 

### Part 24

 

"Report," Jack barked, slipping into the copilot's chair again. She pulled at the long dark strands of hair, tugging them into a ponytail before looking over to the girl in the pilot's seat. The spiky, short cut platinum blonde girl shared one brief glance with her console, making sure their course was set and everything was in the clear, before leaning back in her chair and swiveling to face her younger sister. The door to the cockpit slid open, Blaire, Nita, and Katalynna Behr walking in and taking seats--Blaire and Nita in the two remaining chairs, Kat on the armrest of Nita's. They waited to hear what Devenley had to say with an eagerness that glinted of adrenalin rush.

"Well?" Jack snapped expectantly.

"Pretty much what you already expected," Dev answered, frowning as she tried to remember the vague details she'd managed to gleam from the encounter. "They're Gundam pilots, all five of them--"

"Shit! But they're all so young!" Kat hissed, twisting her black cherry hair into a bun and tying it up.

"So are we," Nita snapped back, grinning. "The younger they are, the less suspicious they look, right?"

"War cultivates warriors," Blaire mused, more for her own benefit then her sisters'. "Besides, we already knew about the one kid. Why should the others have been exempt from suspicion?"

"Quiet," Jack bit out. She nodded to the younger blonde sibling. "What else?"

Dev continued to frown, as though she found concentrating difficult. "The blond boy..." she said slowly, her frown increasing. "Winner," she looked up. "He's a center focus for the other four, they're all protective of him--" She paused and frowned again, something not making sense in her mind. "They're protective of each other, but mostly him," Dev continued. She was about to say more when her mind went blank, like a white screen that only moments before was scripted.

"He's so young and innocent looking," Nita mussed. "They're all..." She sighed looking up at her sisters. "You know they can't be much older than Rini."

"They might be young," Blaire spoke up. "But they're far from innocent... At least not anymore."

Jack heard their words but more importantly, saw the befuddled expression plaguing Dev's normally frozen face and she felt her pulse quicken. "What is it?"

"He's... different from other people..." Dev murmured, her mind reaching frantically, trying to scale the wall she only just realized was there. She looked up, feeling lost in a large ocean, bobbing dangerously between two existences. Her aquamarine eyes sought out her mirror-like image across the cockpit.

"Focus," Blaire told her, a small smile playing at the older girl's lips.

"They're all different... special... but... he's..." The short, spiky haired blonde looked up, her Aquamarine eyes suddenly unclouding. "He's like me!" she gasped, suddenly realizing what she had been feeling throughout the entire time.

"What?!" Jack sat up completely, leaning forward in her chair, looking at her sister as if she hadn't heard her right. Blaire leaned back more into her own seat, nodding.

"He's like me," Dev repeated, falling completely back into the pilot's chair, running a hand over her face and pulling at her lips. She looked to Blaire. "Like us..."

Her head fell back against the seat as she stared at the ceiling. "Shit... I wonder if he even knows... he must..." she said more to herself than to her sisters. "How could I have missed it... He must have... Damn..."

"He was blocking you," Blaire replied more calmly.

"But--I mean--Argh!" The younger blonde ran a hand through her spiky outcrop, pulling at the platinum locks.

"DEV!"

Her head snapped up. "What?"

"Well, thanks for giving us your attention again," Jack drawled. "Now would you mind telling us what's going on?"

"Quatre Raberba Winner," Dev said.

"Yes?" Jack drawled out, shaking her head expectantly.

"Don't you get it?" she asked excitedly. "Raberba. He's a Raberba!"

"Which means..." Nita drawled out, crossing her legs.

"He's psychic," Blaire whispered, green-grey eyes flaring with an inner intensity.

"Yes!" Dev practically jumped up in her seat. "And he must be a powerful one, too, 'cause I didn't even pick up on it--"

"That's because he blocked you before you could disguise yourself," Blaire informed her.

"You mean you *knew*?" Dev almost jumped down her sister's throat. Blaire just nodded. "And you didn't *tell* me? Warn me?"

Blaire just shrugged. "By the time I realized it, it was too late to do anything."

Jack sighed scrubbing her eyes. She wasn't about to get in between the two's psychoanalytical-like debates. "What else can you tell us?" she pressed. "Can we trust them?"

"Yes," Dev answered immediately, looking over to Blaire for reassurance.

"They're dedicated to their cause," the strawberry blonde added looking over to Nita and Kat before looking at Jack. "And willing to die for what they believe in."

"Well, I guess so if they're gundam pilots," Kat mumbled. "Damn..."

"What else?" Jack pressed.

Dev shook her head. "I don't know... I wasn't able to... get a very good impression on all of them," she admitted. "They're very... emotional," she said finally. "Intense."

Jack looked to Blaire to see if the older blonde sibling would add anything else, but she remained silent. Processing what her sisters had to say about to five young men they had just met only took a moment before she made her own decision about them. They would trust the boys for now. For now, they didn't have much choice. Her head snapped towards Nita, ready to move on. "What can you tell us about this base?"

"Nothing too interesting," the dark haired computer girl replied. "An old mining and research facility near L4. Small by today's standards. It was supposed to be abandoned several decades ago."

"What about recent info? Reports of anyone being in the neighborhood?"

Nita shook her head. "No one's paid any attention to it in the last ten years. No reports or even a brief reference to it since then."

"No military action in the area? Oz? White Fang? Anybody?"

"None," Nita answered.

"It would look pretty suspicious if there was, I would imagine," Kat spoke up.

Jack shot her a dark look, "Anything and everything is suspicious in war. Even a mouse hole can hide dynamite."

Nita shrugged. "Anyway, it's an old ruin now."

"Ooh, joy," Kat mocked. "That means we get to look forward to some rats and cobwebs, huh?"

Blaire shot her a look. "It's obviously not as abandoned as some would have us think if there's a mobile suit factory there."

"Do we have enough ammo to blaze the place?" Jack asked.

"Easily," the strawberry blonde returned.

"Okay, what about those three?" Jack nodded towards the back, indicating the three 'passengers' they had been required to bring along.

"They'll be fine," Kat grinned.

"Seem to know their stuff," Blaire agreed. "Shouldn't get in the way."

"Good then--"

The door suddenly opened, startling the five women from their somewhat relaxed composure.

"So, where're we going?" Carina asked, beaming towards her stunned and defense-ready sisters.

 

### Part 25: Interlude

 

The door to the hanger bay sighed open, a bright square of light spilling in from the corridor, trying to push back enveloping shadows. "Trowa? Are you in here?" the blond boy called out into the seemingly empty space.

He paused just inside, the door remaining open. There was no answer and Quatre almost doubted himself as he began to worry his lip with a little frown and rub his chest wearily. He was about to sigh and turn back around when a small movement from above caught his eye.

His marine-colored eyes flew up the painted chest of the nearest gundam--Heavyarms--before flickering to it's large shoulder where the boy he was looking for sat crouched, one hand pressed against the face mask of the gundam while the other dangled between his bent legs. The boy stood gracefully, pulling back into his full height--no bones cricking, no grunts of pain from having crunched in one position too long. So small next to the grandiose gundam... and yet... he looked... invincible. Indestructible... and so incredibly fragile at the same time.

Quatre wanted to go to him... to hold him... to whisper 'Everything's going to be alright' as if the taller boy were a child and he his parent.

"Trowa..." It fell like a prayer from his lips, a caress.

The uni-banged young man took a step back, and then propelled himself into the air, his lithe young body gliding through the empty space as naturally as if he was a bird, flying through the sky. As many times as Quatre had seen these acrobatic tactics of his lover, his heart still jumped in his chest as fear closed around his throat--before Trowa reconnected safely with the floor five feet in front of Quatre.

"Trowa..." Quatre sighed again, looking up at the boy with adoring eyes.

"You knew I was here," the taller boy said flatly--not a question, not a accusation. Just a simple statement.

They stood facing each other for several seconds.

"Did you need something, Quatre?" Trowa asked, standing motionless before the blond boy, as if the next move was the others, not his.

A fine rose tint rose in the blond boy's cheeks as he raised a fist to his lips and stepped forward. The door slid shut behind him. "Well, actually," he began, noticing there were lights on in the bay that prevented the room from total darkness. "Noin reminded me how late it was... and, I thought..." He searched Trowa's face, looking for some hint of emotion that he could *feel* radiating, just below the surface of that calm façade. "I thought it might be nice... if..." His words trailed off, but not his meaning as he continued to stare at the other boy.

"I'm dirty," he said simply, and no more.

"Shower?" Quatre offered, a shy grin teasing his lips as he stepped nearer to the boy that fascinated him so. His hands reached out and slid up around Trowa's waist, tugging the other boy closer.

Trowa fell against him easily, took one look at that radiant up-turned face and fell deeper. He leaned down, his lips brushed over the blond's. "Shower," he agreed before Quatre could steal his lips, breath, and soul away.

 

 

She finished drying her hair and picked up her brush, pulling the utensil through the long pale, yellowish strands carefully.

Her hair was her one true pride and joy. She could still remember, when she was just a little girl, sneaking into her parents' bedchambers and sitting at her mother's vanity. Her mother had many beautiful things on her vanity, but none held the little girl's fascination like the silver handled brush...

If he mother ever found her there, sitting at her vanity, she would pull the child to the bed and brush her hair for her...

She could still remember the feel of the brush as it slipped through her hair, gently grazing along her scalp every-now-and-then. Her mother would talk to her during those times, tell her things, secrets. She had told her once that--when she was little--she had had hair like hers, but then the strands had darkened when she'd become a teenager.

Dorothy had been so happy when her hair never darkened. That way, if her mother ever saw her again, she would recognize her daughter.

At least, that's what she used to tell herself, late at night when she pulled the old silver handled brush through her platinum locks. Really, if she was honest with herself, she doubted if her mother was even still alive... or worse, if she even cared about her--her only daughter, her little girl--anymore. Or... was she her only child anymore? It was quite possible, in the years follower her mother's... departure, that the woman could have remarried and had other children.

The brush caught on a damp tangle and she yanked viciously.

It was quite possible that she had a brother or a sister or both somewhere out there in the world--just like Relena had Milliardo... and never knew...

Relena...

She should stop to see the girl before the final battle began. She should... but she knew she wouldn't. She couldn't. Relena *still* didn't understand what Mr. Trieze and Mr. Milliardo were trying to accomplish. What they were sacrificing... for her. All for her! Her and her peace! Peace for everyone, Earth, the colonies. Space and Terra, finally united at last in Peace... for her... for all of humanity.

It was a noble act, which made her heart swell with love and adoration for the two young men she'd known for most of her young life.

She turned to look at her reflection in the glass critically. She should probably do something about those eyebrows, she thought, but then immediately rejected the idea. Her mother had had split eyebrows. She's said it was a family trait--which was why her cousin had the same feature. Mr. Trieze had the same family feature and he never trimmed his. She would let it go. It was just another characteristic that made her different from everyone else. That made her special. It was good to be special.

She smothered her uniform down her young body and then turned away from the reflection, heading for the door.

There was one last battle to fight in this... the last war of humanity if done right. Or so she hoped.

 

 

Quatre slipped into the small room first, one hand darting out to flip the light switch, the other tugging Trowa in after him. Almost immediately after the taller boy cleared the door, Quatre whirled, pushing Trowa into the wall.

Agreeably, Trowa fell back, bending the critical inches that brought the two boys to equal height. Quatre ravished his mouth the second it was in reach, his tongue pushing into Trowa's mouth. Trowa's hands settled at Quatre's waist, Quatre's pressed at his chest, pulled at his neck.

Quatre pressed between Trowa's thighs, thrusting his hips into Trowa's. Trowa's groan was like gasoline, igniting Quatre even more and the blond thrust again. Trowa tore his lips away, his head falling back against he door. Quatre didn't miss a beat, his lips trailing over his cheek and chin and down the column of his throat, sucking briefly at his Adam's apple.

"Quatre..."

Quatre's hands fell to Trowa's waist as his hips circled. He could fell Trowa's erection pressing against the tight jeans and Quatre ached to free it. His hands slipped around back, moving into Trowa's tight ass, squeezing and molding the globes. And then he began pulling at the green tank top tucked into those tight pants, tugging it free and running his hands up Trowa's smooth back, revealing in the muscles that rippled beneath his fingertips.

The skimpy cloth slipped higher with Quatre's hands until the material was pulled up and off over his head. He let it go with little concern, his lips falling back to Quatre's the moment the cloth cleared. His hands fell back to the blond's waist and, fair was fair, he began tugging at the dress shirt, pulling it free from the khaki pants, his fingers working magically over the many buttons that flew up the center. He parted the material.

Quatre's hands trailing over Trowa's shoulders, his fingers outlining the molded muscles the taller boy liked to hide so well beneath his high necked, long sleeved shirts, skimming down those long arms, fumbled with those beautiful long fingers as he slid out of his dress shirt, letting it fall to the ground. Bare-chested, Quatre felt incredibly weak and venerable next to the other boy. He also felt incredibly excited, which he communicated to his lover by actually jumping onto the other boy, wrapping his arms and legs around Trowa as he pressed and rubbed his hips against his, creating a maddening friction between their two trapped arousals. Quatre's lips plundered Trowa's, his tongue sweeping into his warm mouth, teasing the roof of his mouth, his tongue, his teeth... as if the blond boy was trying to devour him.

Trowa almost whimpered as Quatre pressed closer. He felt the need, the desire well up within him and he knew he was going to give into it again. It was hard not to when the blond boy seemed to do everything in his power to overwhelm him. And Quatre was very powerful. As the other boy devoured his mouth, Trowa delved into the matter of belt buckles, quickly releasing Quatre's and unfastening his pants before loosening his own.

"Shower," Trowa managed to gasp when Quatre's lips left his.

"Mmm, shower," Quatre agreed, letting his legs slide down Trowa's pulling at the tight jeans with them. Quatre dipped, following the jeans' progression down those wonderful legs with his fingers and lips. Trowa dutifully stepped free from the denim, gasping when tiny nips rained down on the inside of his thigh.

"Quatre..."

Quatre's hands slid up Trowa's thighs, up to his waist, and back down, pulling the thin cotton material down with them and free Trowa's beautiful penis. Trowa tried to stop him, but even he was too slow for the blond's determined, worshipful actions. Quatre's lips sealed around Trowa's head, bobbing down before pulling back, slowly, his tongue laving the underside of the throbbing cock in his mouth. He moaned in delight; Trowa groaned, eyes rolling back as lids slid shut tight.

Quatre repeated the action, again and again, squeezing, sucking, licking, gumming the organ in his mouth, coaxing the boy to let go of his tightly held control, coaxing the boy to cum, for him... The tiny, tortured cries encouraged him on until he felt the small tensing and practically hummed as the salty warm cum filled his mouth and made a heated path down to his stomach. He pulled back, savoring the taste on his lip as he looked up at the slightly dazed boy over him. He smiled, climbing back up that beautiful body.

"*Now* shower," he murmured, kissing Trowa's lips again and leading him towards the shower stall.

 

### Part 26

 

"So we'll hit here, here, here, and here," Jack said, pointing at the four strategic spots on the satellite print out Nita had pulled out. "Got it?"

The three women and three men surrounding the table nodded.

"We'll go in with teams of two," she said, not looking up as the door slid open. "What's our ETA?"

Dev checked her console before replying. "Two forty-six."

"How long do we have once we're in?" one of the men they'd been forced to bring along asked.

"No more than ten minutes," Nita answered. "That's plenty of time to get in, set the charges and get the hell out.

"Any sign of resistance?" another asked.

"No, everyone's too concerned with the war," Nita replied.

"But it's still a good idea to be on alert," Blaire added.

Jack looked up at the newcomer then, still frowning even when Kat nodded in answer to her silent question. "Well," she said, turning back to the rest of the company. "I suggest you get your rest now. We'll meet up in two thirty."

The three men stood, recognizing the dismissal, and left for the quarters they'd been assigned to. Jack waited until the door shut tight behind them before launching into her tirade.

"Why the hell aren't we turning this ship around and taking her back?" she practically screamed. "She has no business being here when we're about to blow up an entire fucking colony!"

"Think about it," Dev shot back. "Which is more dangerous: being here with us where we can at least keep an eye on her...? Or being in the middle of a fucking war?"

"We can't continue to protect her, Jack," Blaire said, her voice sounding soft and fragile against the heated words of her sister. She ran a hand through her short strawberry locks. "She has to grow up sometime."

She felt torn between wanting to protect her sister and needing to carry out their mission. Jack growled with her frustration, whirling to hit the wall--hoping the pain would give her something to focus on other than her split desires. Her hand met with a fleshy palm before it could scrape the cold metal of the ship. She glared at Kat.

"You gotta focus," the younger girl said. "You're no good to us like this; you're no good to yourself, and you're definitely no good to Rini like this."

Jack's shoulders slumped and she sighed, her frustration and tension leaving her with that one breath. "You're right," she whispered, her head falling onto Kat's shoulders as the other girl wrapped her arms around her and held her tight.

 

 

'I should go,' he had said after a moment, pulling away from the longhaired boy. Silently he had be hoping the boy would tell he no, that he should stay. He waited for those words or some other sign that the boy at least wanted him a little bit.

It never came.

'You should do what you have to,' Duo had whispered, turning back to the bed, turning away from him.

'Yes, of course," Wufei had replied, wanting to scream, wanting to cry, wanting to drag the other boy back to his room and lock him in there until this entire war was over. In the end he'd just turned away and made his way back to his own, empty room. For some reason, he always had the empty room. Even if they were partnered for some reason or another... He was always given his own room.

Did he frighten the others? Was there something so horribly wrong with him that the others didn't want to be with him?

It was always the same: fall asleep in an empty room, wake up in an empty room. Was that all that life was willing to give him? An empty room? No wife, no family--those simple things had already been torn away from him. Was he also to be denied companionship for the rest of his days?

Maybe those days weren't so many anymore...

His grip on the arm crunch tightened and he pushed the two metal ends together more forcefully then he'd intended, gracelessly knocking his knuckles together. He grunted and re-adjusted his grip on the tiny contraption.

He felt lonely, he realized. Even on this ship where there were literally hundreds of people, he was lonely. Alone. So he had come to this small cafeteria. It had been empty, but at least it wasn't his room. Minutes later Trowa had joined him, tossing him the metal device Wufei was now using. Wufei had shot him a wary look and Trowa quickly demonstrated how the device was used. And then the taller boy had fallen into silence as the arm crunch creaked with each depression.

Wufei hadn't been surprised when the blond member of their team--we're they really a team? Did team members feel lonely?--had joined them. After all, where one was, so followed the other. The two pilots of Gundam 03 and 04 naturally gravitatedtowards one another. No one talked. No one seemed to know what to say, so they all just stayed there in a semblance of comfortable silence.

When the door hissed open yet another time they all looked up, hopeful.

It was like a prayer being answered, Wufei thought.

"Hey, anyone see Heero anywhere?" Duo asked, hanging in the doorway.

 

 

She'd almost gotten her head chewed off--if not for being there in the first place, then for lying to Doce back on Peacemillion. The girl had said she was tired and not much in the mood to go sightseeing throughout the large ship. Her sister's friend, Sally, had led them to her own quarters and offered Carina the opportunity to rest while she and Doce checked out the med-unit. The doors hadn't even cooled before she was up and making her way back to the conference room her sisters were in with that cute guy. It had been a cinch sneaking back onto the Shooting Star--after all, it was her ship too so no one questioned her.

Of course, she'd almost screwed herself over by coming out of hiding too soon, but her legs had cramped up from hiding in one of the smuggling compartments and she just *had* to get out. Jack had almost had Dev turned the shuttle around, but Blaire stopped her, saying time was short...

It was the weirdest thing, though. Blair had looked... sad, when the strawberry blonde said that, and Carina didn't miss the look that passed between her blonde sisters. She had wanted to ask her older sister what's wrong, but never had the chance. Jack had ordered her to quarters and told her to stay there until they got to wherever it was they were going. Yeah, they wouldn't even tell her what their destination was. That sucked. What sucked more was that Kat, after 'escorting' her to her own damn room had locked her in.

Carina had banged on the walls and door, shouting to her sisters, but no one answered. She was more than just a little peeved several hours later when the door finally hissed open again.

She jumped up with a start, blinking against the dull light filtering in behind her sister's form.

"We're here," Jack said, some hesitance in her voice.

"Where's here?" Carina countered, crossing the distance between them.

Jack looked stubborn for a minute--as though she wasn't going to tell the younger sibling... and then she sighed. "An old satellite off Lagrange Point 4," she answered, turning and striding back down the corridor towards the rear of the ship.

"Why here?" Carina shot, stepping up to keep pace with her. The dark haired girl didn't answer, and when it seemed like she wouldn't anytime soon, Rini started to repeat the question.

Jack stopped outside the hanger door, her hand on the control panel, her head bowed as if she was carrying a great weight. Around them, the ship hummed. And then the seventeen-year-old looked up, her large dark eyes focusing on the fifteen-year-old golden image of herself.

"We're here to destroy this satellite," she said, her voice dead. Carina gasped, her eyes growing wide. "I'd tell you to stay here," Jack continued, not allowing the girl to get a word in, "but I don't think you'd listen to me, would you?"

Carina glared at her sister, her lips forming into a little pout.

"So you're coming in with me. Stick close, don't touch anything, and be quiet," Jack finished, palming the control panel.

The door slid open with a hiss and Jack stepped through. Carina hesitated for only a second, and then darted after her, the door swooshing shut behind her.

 

### Part 27: Mission in Progress

 

They floated over from the Shooting Star to the satellite secured with a heavy cable. Once in the relative safety of the floating mass of metal they removed their space suits and checked their armaments.

"Remember," Jack said, studying the gathering as she fixed her mic. "Ten minutes. Dev? Nita?"

"Check," the two girls called over the com.

"There's no action," Nita went on. "I mean, the place looks completely deserted."

"Be on the lookout, just in case," the dark haired teenager warned them.

"Right," the company agreed before striking out in their predetermined destinations. Blaire and two of the men headed out right; Kat and the remaining man, left. Jack looked at her youngest sister. "Come on," she said before pushing out, straight ahead.

Jack tried to check her pace so Rini could keep up--but the younger girl was keeping up on her own, her golden brown eyes glowing with a feverish excitement. Jack wanted to stop, to yell at the girl: "No, NO! Don't be excited about this! Don't get excited from war and destruction and chaos!"

But she didn't. She held her tongue and pressed forward, hoping to reach the second power grid sooner than later. The lights flicked before sputtering out completely, launching them into darkness. Rini gasped, Jack pushing her against the wall and waiting expectedly.

Seconds passed and nothing happened.

And then a low hum started as the power generator kicked in, bathing the corridor in a eerie red glow. Jack waited a second longer, waiting to see if anything else would happen... and when it didn't, she backed away from Rini, jerking her head in the direction they'd been heading.

"Let's keep going," she said, turning before she could she the other girl's nod.

They reached the end of the corridor and were about to proceed into the next when the door to their left whooshed opened. The two girls jumped, Jack pushing Rini behind her and raising her gun.

"Well, well, well. Look what I found."

 

 

She was halfway out of the carrier before it had even settled.

"Colonel.," the young man saluted at the base of the lift.

"Report," Une barked, accepting the garments he held out for her and immediately stripping. She was oblivious to the young man's blush as she removed the flight suit from her otherwise naked body and adorned the military uniform in record speed.

"Uh, ma'am. Our, ah, troops and White Fang's are engaging, ma'am," he stumbled.

"What of Peacemillion?"

"Last report, ma'am, she hadn't moved, ma'am."

"Understood." She finished fastening her jacket, smoothing the wrinkles out, and then looked up. "Take me to the bridge."

 

 

He felt torn. A part of him wanted to be outside, fighting, helping to protect the colonies. Another part of him understood that at the moment, the best way to protect the colonies was to make sure this girl lived. He looked at her from the corner of his eye.

It wasn't that she was pretty, although, she wasn't really bad looking either. There was just something about her. Her spirit? Maybe. Her naivety? Hn. Definitely. But more than then. Her genuine desire for peace. She truly believed that everyone could achieve peace... and, what's more, people believed her. He believed her.

So what?

So he'd decided to make it part of his mission to make sure she survived, even if no one else did. At least, that way, if she did, then she could lead whoever managed to survive to peace. After all, that's what this was all about, wasn't it? Peace? Everyone wanted it, but no one seemed to agree on how to accomplish it. But she knew. She knew the secret to peace. She was the secret.

He had wanted to stay put, to be prepared for when the time came to destroy the ship, but he found himself restless. Too restless to just sit there and do nothing. Not when there was a battle to be fought. Right outside those metallic walls. A battle fought for freedom, for peace. A war for peace. Did anyone recognize the irony in that? Did anyone care?

He felt the ship still beneath his feet. The constant thrumming of the engines fall silent, and immediately, he seemed to know what was happening, almost as if he was outside the ship and seeing it happen.

"Get down," Heero told Relena.

"What's wrong Heero?" Relena cried, turning to look at him.

"Get down and cover you head," he repeated before looking back at her. "Peacemillion's going to ram us."

 

 

She was frantic, having searched everywhere she could think of, looking for her youngest sibling in the chaos of evacuation. Desperation sent her to the subbridge where she could find her old friend.

"Well, hello pretty lady," Howard called over the alarms when he saw the young lady step out onto his bridge. "You went the wrong way to get off here!"

"Sally!" she cried, stumbling forward as laser fire hit the ship.

"Doce!" the other woman replied, sparing a brief look for her friend.

"I can't find Carina anywhere! I searched your quarters and everywhere I could think of--"

"Too late now!" Howard cut in. "She probably got herself to one of the escape shuttles like you should've done. Too late now! Too late now! Grab a seat and strap in, lady, 'cause things are about to get bumpy! ALL HANDS BRACE FOR IMPACT!"

 

 

The two groups met back up at where they'd entered the satellite, looking expectantly at one another, shifting back and forth nervously. "Where's Jack?" Kat asked, looking to Blaire.

The blonde shrugged and called into her com for the time.

"Five sixty," Nita answered. "You guys done yet?"

"Not exactly," the older blonde replied. "You got a fix on Jack?"

"Negative. Too much interference."

"She's usually the first one back," Kat said, unable to hide the worry in her voice.

"Yeah, but she's got Rini with her now," Blaire pointed out. She grabbed for the com unit at her shoulder and called into it to her missing sisters.

Static was the only reply.

 

### Part 28: Be A Good Girl

 

"Well, well, well. Look what I found."

Jack froze, the color draining from her face, her blood running cold, her stomach falling. Her hold on the smaller girl behind her tightened, almost eliciting a surprised yelp from Carina, had she not swallowed it back.

"What the hell are you doing here, Val?" Jack rasped.

"I could ask the same thing of you," the dark haired young man replied, standing up from his desk, a drink in hand. "You see, this satellite is supposed to be deserted, which is why I chose it." He smiled at the glare she shot him, relishing it, drinking in her hate for him as if it was ambrosia. "I'm here overseeing the final touches on a pet project of mine. A project, might I add, that will restore our family to the riches our brothers so carelessly squandered away!"

"You bastard!" she hissed. "You son of a---You made a deal with those murderers!"

"On the contrary!" He walked around the desk and then chose to lean back against it. "I made a deal with White Fang!"

"You--!" Anger flew her across the room, ready to attack him.

And then, suddenly, she stopped, three feet away, blistering to hit him, fists clenching and unclenching at her sides, her fury written clearly across her young face.

"Would you like to hit me, Jacqueline?" he taunted, leaning forward so his liquor-soured breath could assault her. And then he backhanded her; the force snapping her face completely to the left. Inch by inch, she turned to look back at him, hatred burning her eyes as the tears burned her cheeks. "Would you?" he asked again, leaning in closer, punching her this time in the side.

 

 

"They can't possibly be serious," Lady Une murmured in fascinated horror as she watched the large ship sail towards Libra. Awe and admiration laced her words and as she watched, Peacemillion merged with the battle ship Libra.

"Ma'am! Shuttles from Peacemillion are requesting permission to dock!" one of the young lieutenants cried out.

"Granted!" Une replied without hesitation. "Hurry! Make sure each one of those ships makes it here safely! I don't want any more casualties!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

'How noble,' she thought, staring at the bright fireworks created by the collision. 'How beautiful and noble.'

***~~~Flashbacks~~~ ***

'Remember, Jacqueline,' the old wizened man had told her at one of their many afternoon talks since she'd been sent away. 'Family is something sacred. You may always choose your friends, but you may never choose your family. They are who the fates have deemed them to be. It is your responsibility as a young warrior and woman, to watch out for them, especially those who are physically and mentally weaker than yourself. You must never raise your hand against a family member...'

'I miss mama...' the little dark-haired girl had replied, cuddling up closer to the man who was like a grandfather to her.

 

 

The little child huddled into a ball on the ground, shuddering with pain and sobs as the belt arched down through the air and made a loud crack, slicing across her exposed flesh.

'You dare to raise your hand against me?'

'Daddy! Please! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!' the child had screamed.

'You little whore! You're no better than that slut that birthed you! Don't you ever, ever, EVER raise your hand to the head of this family!'

'Aba! Aba, stop!' her mother had screamed, throwing herself over the child.

 

 

The child whimpered in the warmth of her mother's embrace, sniffling pitifully.

'Family is sacred,' the dark-haired woman whispered, petting the child's head in her lap. 'Sometimes, we are forced to sacrifice ourselves for the good of our families, and sometimes, there is no choice for us but to live through the unpleasanties of life.'

The child clung to her, refusing to let go. 'Why did you marry such a mean man?' she whimpered, hiding her face in her mother's long dress-like shirt.

'You must never say such things about your father, dear, please,' the woman urged. 'One day, you will understand the sacrifice made for one's families.'

'But,' the child sniffled, pulling away to look up into her mother's dark angelic-like face with wide dark eyes, 'Did you *want* to marry Daddy?'

A look passed the woman's face that the child could define as no more than sadness. 'No,' the mother whispered, brushing back the dark bangs from the child's forehead. 'But the choice was not mine to make.' She leaned over and kissed the bared forehead.

The child was quiet for several minutes, content just to lay there in the safety of her mother's arms. And then another question plagued her young mind. 'Are you happy here, mother?'

The woman smiled, sad and loving. "I am not unhappy, my darling. After all, I have you and your sisters whom I love dearly with all my heart.' She kissed the child's forehead again. 'And you are my family now; I promise not to let anything bad ever happen to you--I would die first.'

She held the child tight, as if to crush her to her and make the child a part of herself forever.

 

 

The dark haired woman laid on the bed, nothing more than a battered, broken doll. Her cheeks badly bruised, her lips cracked and cased with blood, her eye swollen shut, her bloody, mangled body limp.

'Never let them know,' she whispered, her voice hoarse and cracked. 'Play the role they would have you play; give them what they think they want--but never let them know.'

'Never let them know what, mama?' the young gathering of girls asked, eyes brimming with bitter tears.

'That you are better than them... smarter... stronger... That you will live longer then them and better than them... That you will survive even when they are dead--through your daughters... and her daughters... and their daughters... That you cannot die.'

The woman coughed, blood sputtering across the lily-white sheets. The oldest of the girls, only thirteen, jiggled the wiggling two-year old in her arms, trying in vain not to cry like her other sisters.

'You see,' the dying woman went on. 'They think they can control us, that we are weaker than them because of our sex. They underestimate us... and that is their mistake.' Her eyes drifted shut, but her lips continued to move. '"Our life is a war... and I have been a traitor all my born days, a spy in the enemy's country... Live Life with your head in the lion's mouth... overcome with yeses, undermine with smiles, agree them to death and destruction, let them swallow you till they vomit and bust wide open..." and never forget the power of invisibility.'

She coughed again and tried to move her hands out, to touch her children. They all pulled nearer, desperate to feel her warmth, to reassure themselves that she was still alive. Tiny hands slipped over her arms and legs, touched her shoulders and face, squeezed her weak but loving hands. 'Find Kiell,' she whispered, dark eyes trying to focus on the faces of her beautiful children... beautiful creatures of her flesh and blood. 'If you're ever in trouble... ever need help. Find the shining prince of the desert sun.'

They were her last words.

Almost half an hour later, when the doctor finally arrived with a frantic husband and father, all that was to be found was a cooling corpse surrounded by seven nestling, sleeping little girls.

 

 

The blows rained down upon her head, her shoulders, her stomach, until the pain forced her to her knees. And then he started kicking her, forcing down to the cold floor in a dummified state, mind blank and detached so that when the distasteful body fell over her, she was already miles away.

 

### Part 29

 

They neared the two crippling ships, surveying the damage. Duo was the first to break the awed-silence.

"Whooie!" he exhaled. "It looks pretty well embedded."

Trowa nodded in agreement, taking into account the proportion of Peacemillion, which was thoroughly now a part of Libra. "It will be difficult to destroy just the Libra," he pointed out to the others.

A window opened on all five of their screens. "This is the Peacemillion," Sally's voice fed through their com. "While there's no threat of explosion... our engines are dead."

On their screens the blond boy nodded. "Understood," Quatre told the former Alliance doctor. "We'll try to seize control of the Libra from within. We'll destroy their Mobile Doll operating system and call for the White Fang's surrender. And..."

Quatre spared a brief look towards the longhaired boy on his display screens. "There's still the matter with Relena and Heero.... "

But the braided boy didn't seem to hear him. "Demolitions eh?" Duo looked down his chest, his face glowing with a light the others had begun to associate with 'Shinigami'. "Just like old times," he purred.

The uni-banged boy wasn't surprised when the serpent gundam broke away from the three others, though it was enough to catch Duo's attention. Trowa watched as Duo called after the Chinese pilot, watched the confused expression on the boy's face when the other brushed him off.

"Hey! Wufei!" Duo called, but Wufei didn't bother to respond.

"Let him go," Trowa told him, almost gently. "He has an old appointment to keep." 'Regain yourself, Chang Wufei,' he thought.

"Let's hurry to the Libra," Quatre urged them, eager for this whole mess to be over with already. The four remaining mobile suits began their descent into the depths of Libra before the white Taurus pulled away. "Noin?" Quatre called, concerned for his friend.

"I'm sorry... but... I..." the dark haired woman's soft voice came through their speakers.

"Please, go then, Noin...." Quatre told her, praying for his friend and the turmoil he knew she was suffering. A hangar door blasted open before them, and the three remaining gundams slipped inside, ready for some of that demolition Duo promised them.

 

 

~"Well, well, well. Look what I found."~

He was already on his fifth glass of--of whatever the hell it was he was drinking. It tasted terrible, but, after the third or fourth cup, he couldn´t taste it at all anymore. Everything was terrible. Horrible. His whole fucking life a screw-up. He knew. He didn´t need anyone to point it out to him. And today was just the icing on the cake as far as he was concerned.

The mechanics he´d hired to work for him had quit--every last one of them--when he refused to pay them up front. They´d simply set down their tools and walked out; leaving him alone on a completely deserted satellite with all the mobile dolls he´d promised Quinze half finished. Fine fucking dandy, he thought, tossing back the rest of his drink.

And then, this. The door to his office--if you could call the impromptu room decorated with some of his things, that.

And in the doorway, framed in hellish reddish light, was the bane of his existence. His little sister.

He hated her.

Complete, unadulterated hate. She represented everything wrong with him. Everything he hated and despised, was her. She self-assurance, her natural command, natural authority. Everything he lacked. Everything he was supposed to be.

***~~~Flashback~~~***

{SMACK}

The young boy fell to the floor, holding his scalding cheek. 'You are a disgrace to this family,' the dark-haired man boomed. 'To let a *girl* beat you!'

'But Daddy--!'

{SMACK}

'You're weak! Pathetic! How to you hope to become a man if you can't even keep a *girl* in her place!'

The blows rained down upon his small form. No one intervened.

*

The fourteen-year-old boy swallowed nervously. He and his half-sister, Doce, were the only two left. After his stepmother's funeral, all his little half-sisters were sent away, fostered out to different family and friends on different colonies, in different countries. Doce was still here, but she was scheduled to leave tomorrow. That would mean... he would be alone.

Most of his older brothers and sisters were away at boarding school. Most hadn't even bothered to come home for their stepmother's funeral. But he hadn't been accepted to any schools--his scores weren't high enough for the schools his father wanted to send him to, and so the boy was reduced to home tutoring until his scores improved enough for him to get out.

The day his last sister abandoned him was the last day of his childhood. The last day he'd retained any inkling of innocence.

 

 

The battle looked uneven to the untrained eye. The sheer multitudes of mobile doll drones attacking the limited number of Earth troops. But Wufei knew the skill of those few pilots outweighed the numbers of their enemies. Still, he aided one of the Earth pilots, destroying the mobile doll that had been about to destroy a human life.

The cry of the soldier almost brought a smug smile to the China man's lips. "A gundam?! A gundam is aiding us?!"

'Enjoy it,' Wufei thought. He slayed another soulless piece of metal. 'While it lasts. Today my fight is not with you.'

"Treize!" he called out over the open link. "When this fight is over... I'll test your justice!"

'And I will reclaim my honor!'

 

 

Heero donned the spacesuit with an efficiency that spoke of the numerous times he'd accomplished the task--after helping Relena into hers, of course. The five minutes it took her compared to the minute it took him, wasn't making her feel any bit an equal to the boy who fascinated her so.

"When we get to the Peacemillion, follow Howard's instructions and pull out of this area," he told her, not bothering to look up from his fastenings.

"I want to speak with my brother," she said, watching him snap the last pieces into place, "one more time."

"Impossible," Heero told her. He looked up, seeing the determination in her eyes--which he knew, deep in his gut, *couldn't* be a good thing--and sighed. "Zechs's firm in his resolve," he tried to explain, leaving the locker room and using the lesser gravitation force to carry him to ZERO's cockpit.

He called up to Peacemillion, letting them know he was going to be taking ZERO out.

"Heero...!"

He looked down at the girl, wondering if he should say something else. Reassure her...? When he was heading out to kill her brother? That didn't seem like a very good idea. In the end, he didn't say anything at all; just climbed into ZERO's cockpit and powered up the large mecha.

***~~~Flashback~~~***

'You know, men really can't be trusted with important stuff,' the eleven-year old taunted from the door way, twirling a strand of dark brown hair around her finger and chewing on a piece of gum, loudly.

'Go away,' he told the annoying little girl, staring down at the figures that announced bankruptcy and ruin as his inheritance. He could kill someone. In the three years since his father's death, his older brothers had managed to bleed dry every last penny of the family fortune; first making bad investments, then gambling the rest of it away.

Both his brothers were dead now... Which left *him* with their mess. He didn't see anyway avoiding complete failure.

'Men always find a way to screw things up. I think it has something to do with their genes,' the girl went on, smacking her gum again.

'I said, be quiet.'

'Nope, see, you're already messin' up,' the girl said pushing away from the doorframe. 'You said "Go away", which is definitely different from "Be quiet".'

'Then why don´t you leave!'

''Cause I don't want to,' she replied, chewing on that damn gum.

"You can't even handle a girl!" his father's words weighted upon him. "I'll show you how to handle a worthless woman. They're only good for one thing. Until you can behave like a man, I will treat you like a woman!"

He snapped, jumping on the eleven-year-old, beating her senseless until her cries gave way to silence. He yanked back on the long dark hair, forcing her face up to look at him.

'Women are only good for only thing,' he told her, wrenching her head so far back the he could see her trachea pushing out against the tender skin of her throat. 'Pleasing men.'

She hurled back and spat on him, her blood-clotted saliva trailing down his face. He backhanded her, sending her reeling to the floor and pounced. She flailed at him, attempting to claw his arms, his face, any bit of him she could reach. He slapped her again.

She kicked, screamed, tried to hit him back.

'You Will Mind Your Place!" he screamed at her. "*I* am the head of this family now! You will respect *me*!"

She stiffened, her whole body tense. And then she slumped against the floor, unresisting as he pushed her skirt up and began to rape her body. She took her first out of many mind trips--leaving an empty shell behind.

 

### Part 30: What Goes Up...

 

He pressed his ear to the door, pulling back and grinning when he heard the rustling of bodies from within. He slapped a slab of C4 into place, yelling to stay clear from the door. Seconds later the lock on the door went "boom!" and Duo peeled it back to peek inside, grinning in expectation of the expression he was betting on being on Heero's face.

What he saw, wasn't what he'd expected, and he slammed the door shut again, leaning back against it and thinking, 'Oh fuck! Why me?'

 

 

Her blood boiled as she stood watching the blond boy. "Out of all the Gundam pilots," she spat, "You are the one most unsuited."

Quatre flexed his hand, momentarily stunned from having his pistol shot out from his fingers. He looked up in time to see the blonde girl slip a helmet over her head. He felt a cold calmness try to steal over him, to steal his will away.

"This room..." he whispered, his voice hoarse.

"Is the Mobile Doll Control Room!" Dorothy announced with pride.

Quatre shivered. "No..." he replied, his frown increasing. "This place... feels like the Zero System..."

"That's correct!" Dorothy beamed at him from beneath the visor. "The Zero system and the Mobile Doll controls are directly connected," she took pleasure in telling him. "You should know then that the Mobile Dolls are under the control of *my* fighting will now!"

She launched a saber towards the blond boy, missing him by inches. "What are you saying?" Quatre cried, pulling away.

"Duel with me, Quatre Winner!" Dorothy hissed. "In a straight Zero-system fight, I lost; but I wonder about this time... You decided to fight of your own free will, didn't you?" She toyed with him, her heart racing in her chest; excitement swelling in her throat. She could almost taste it.

"I'd rather not," Quatre bowed out, "if it's at all possible..." Then his face took on a resigned look. "But if I don't, you won't surrender, and this war won't end."

"That's correct!" Dorothy tensed--she could feel it, the system, feeding into her, melding into her... becoming a part of her. "Let's see which is superior, unenhanced human reflexes... or Zero System optimized!"

"And if I won't agree?" Quatre dodged the blade soaring straight for him, tucking, ducking, and rolling until he was standing opposite of the long-haired girl, saber in hand.

***~~~Flashback~~~***

The thirteen-soon-to-be-fourteen-year-old bounced into the room, literally jumping up and down in her excitement. 'Guess what! Guess what! Guess what!' she sang, pouncing on the older teenager in the bed.

Jack strangled back a sharp cried, but couldn't prevent the painful whimper that escaped. Carina gave a distressed cry when the sheets slipped off her sister's shoulders, revealing the ugly bruises that mottled her face and shoulders.

'What happened?' the golden brown girl cried, jumping off the bed, and thus, off her sister's battered body.

A pained look crossed the older girl's face as she cleared her parched throat. 'Nothing,' she replied in a hoarse whisper, reaching for the glass of water and two red-and-yellow tablets on the nightstand. And then, after a glance at the girl, she added, 'I just ran a simulation program that I couldn't beat, that's all.'

Carina frowned, sitting more carefully back on the bed. 'You shouldn't do that, you know. You might really get hurt one of these days.'

The older girl managed a small laugh, wincing when the pain became too much. 'Yeah,' she whispered. 'I know.'

 

 

He could feel the hatred bubble up inside him. He encouraged it, depended on it. Out of all the inconsistencies in his life recently, he knew he could count on this... this hatred for all that was evil and wrong and unjust.

"Why don't you use your dragon?" his opponent called out to him.

"I want to fight you fair!" Wufei shouted back, repositioning his trident for optimal offense and defense. On his screen, the ginger-haired man smiled.

"That isn't like you at all! Are you holding back?"

How dare he presume to know me! "And you?" he spat. "Why didn't you kill me back then?" His anger, his humiliation, his need for vengeance. 'It was his right to kill me...'

"I couldn't kill one of the few people who understand me," Trieze told the other pilot, his voice soft with uncheck emotion.

"Don't mock me!" Wufei screamed. "I hate you!" And he did. He hated the man who had made him weak, who had defeated him so early in the game.

"Then don't hold back!" Trieze shouted.

***~~~Flashback~~~***

'You've been doing it again,' she accused, frowning at the older girl laying in the bed. She handed Jack the medicine Doce had asked her to bring to the girl. 'I don't know why you keep doing this to yourself.'

'You don't need to know,' Jack whispered, taking the pills from her sister, grateful for the release they would bring, and the protection they ensured.

 

 

Trowa felt the burning urgency from the depths of his being. He didn't understand why, but he knew he had to find Quatre. The blond boy was in danger and he needed to--

'But wouldn't it be easier for him if the boy died?' a dark voice questioned. 'No loose ends...No confusion. Besides, he was a big boy; he could take care of himself...'

Trowa paused on the railing where he'd landed, having jumped free from HeavyArms' cockpit. He looked back at the large gundam, and then turned away, racing down the corridor. He had to find Quatre.

***~~~Flashback~~~***

'Don't question her.'

'What?' Carina looked up, surprised to see her sister Blaire standing over her study table.

'Don't question her,' the blonde girl repeated. 'Just know she has your best intentions at heart and leave it be at that.'

 

 

He stared at the gaping hole through the center of the magnificent blue and white suit, as if he couldn't believe it was really there, as if he wasn't the one who'd put it there.

"That was glorious, Wufei..." Trieze's voice fed in through his speakers, though the image of his opponent had flicked out of existence.

"Trieze! You--" Wufei swallowed the bitter words, angered confusion crushing his lungs. He stared in horror as the damaged Tallgeese drifted away from him.

"Everyone must compensate for their sins," Trieze's voice surrounded him, sounding calm, accepting. "Even my death is not devoid of meaning. Wufei..."

The Chinese boy smashed his fists against his control console.

"My eternal friend... I'm honored to have fought you..."

"I... This... This... I won't accept this!" Wufei screamed, the words tearing from his throat as he watched the last constant in his life turn variable.

"Milliard... I'm going on ahead of you..." were the last words he heard before the suit exploded before his eyes.

He tried to bottle it up, to contain it--everything was gone now. Everything--but he couldn't. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he cried out to the universe.

 

 

She was surprised when she heard her brother's voice--but not as surprised as when she saw Valdeon hit her sister. Actually hit Jack. Carina was sure she must have gasped or cried out or something--but the other two must not have heard her. And then her brother attacked her sister.

She was frozen, couldn't move, couldn't scream, couldn't shout. Her throat was swollen, her lungs screaming, her heart starving, her eyes stinging. She was lightheaded and dizzy, staring in shock, disbelief, confused.

Bone crashed against bone as his fists rained down over the dark-haired, unmoving girl. Bright reddish bruises already beginning to color--her cheeks, her shoulders, her arms... Jack crumbled to the floor, Val following her.

And all Carina could do was stand there and watch as he brother beat the living shit out of her sister; Jack doing nothing to stop him--just a dead corpse, laying there, unresisting.

 

 

'Was it in vain?' she asked herself, visible wilting against the console. 'Was it all for nothing? All the planning, all the sacrificing? For this? Why, Trieze? Why?'

"Commander Une," one of the lieutenants called. "Commander... your orders?"

She straightened her shoulders and took a deep breath--it did nothing to elevate the aching hollowness within her chest. "Inform White Fang of the Earth's Nations surrender," she said without emotion.

"Commander!" one of the ensigns cried.

Her face steeled, her body tensing. "Do not make me repeat those disgraceful words again," she bit out, before turning away.

"You were glorious," she whispered, "Trieze-sama..."

 

 

It was the whimper that broke her stupor. Jack, her big, indestructible, courageous, wonderful sister; whimpering beneath a man she didn't even recognize anymore.

Carina's knees almost collapsed under her. She stumbled into the make-shift office, her lips and mouth moving, her hoarse cry no more than a desperate whisper.

"No. Stop. Please, stop. Val, stop. What do you think you're doing. Stop."

Her golden brown eyes flew about the room looking for something--anything--that could help her. She tumbled towards the far wall, reaching up and yanking on one of the decorative broadswords hanging there, falling back when it finally came free.

The heavy weight pulled on her arms--even in the lesser gravity on the satellite--but she struggled to raise the sword off the floor, shouting to her brother to stop, her voice growing stronger and more forceful with each cry.

"Stop, Val! Stop!"

He didn't hear her, or chose not to listen, his hands wrapping around Jack's throat and smashing her head into the metal floor repeatively. "Die, bitch!" he shouted, never seeing the second girl behind him as she lifted the heavy sword and let gravity do what it does best.

~What goes up... ~

 

### Part 31: Downfall

 

"Not a single weapon must be left within the Earth Sphere," Lady Une ordered, staring at the images of war on the view screen. "That is what His Excellency, Treize, wanted."

"I see," a voice from behind spoke up. Sally eyed the woman she had considered one of her greatest enemies for almost a year now. "Treize Khushrenada was trying to establish world peace, as well."

The personnel of MOII turned in their seats, staring at the newcomers. "Who are you?" one of the men asked, reaching for his gun. He froze when his commander raised her arm against his chest.

Her grey eyes looked over first the ginger haired woman who had spoken, and then past her, to the honey-wheat haired girl--no, young woman. "Welcome, your majesty," Une said nodding her head.

The woman and old man she stood behind parted before her--it all looked too perfect. Her calm serenity when she stepped forward. The modest tilt of her face. Her folded hands. 'Is she truly the one you would have succeed you, Excellency?' she asked her dead hero.

"Please, don't call me that," Relena said, looking up at the woman.

'Where is you're fire? Where is your spirit? Has the passionate girl who to dared aim a gun to me a year ago died?' She stepped forward, pulling her gun from its holster.

"I am only a remnant of my true self," Lady Une said, holding the gun out to her. "But, please, if you would like to revenge your father's soul..."

She couldn't look at the girl, couldn't look into her cornflower blue eyes without thinking of another pair of blue eyes. 'Soon...' she thought, and then looked up, startled, when two soft hands lowered the gun.

"Let's end the cycle of revenge and fighting," Relena said.

Lady Une stared at her, disbelief at her redemption, her forgiveness, plain on her face. And then she smiled and nodded. "Hai," she told the young monarch, slipping into the more formal Japanese language. 'She will be wonderful, Treize-sama.'

 

 

The blonde and dark-haired girls ran down the corridor as fast as safely possible, keeping their firearms cocked and ready. They were almost to the end of the second corridor when they heard the scream tear through the thin air.

"Rini!" Kat gasped adding a burst of speed to her legs.

"Kat! Wait!" Blaire called after her, but the dark-haired younger sibling didn't listen. "Shit," she cursed, following behind.

They pulled up to the end of the third corridor in time, already proceeding into the fourth when a light to their left drew them up short.

"Oh my gods..." Kat choked, stumbling into the room.

Blaire swept past her, green-grey eyes analyzing the situation in one cursory glance. Blood. A lot of it. All over the floor in a deep, dark puddle. She passed the shuddering form of her littlest sister huddled just at the edge of the puddle and stepped into the gory mess.

A large broadsword was embedded into the body of her stepbrother, the blade having fallen diagonally and haphazardly. In a detached moment of humor, Blaire thought to remember to give the girl sword lessons. She reached down and yanked the blade free from the skull and shoulder blade, noticing the fresh gush of blood that seeped from the gapping wounds at the head, neck, and shoulders.

She would have gagged had she been seeing this for the first time. But this was an image that had haunted her nightmares for over a year now and so, unfazed, she kicked the corpse away and crouched down beside her half-sister.

"Jack?" she called, pulling back the eyelids of open but unseeing eyes. "Jack? It's time to wake up now, we have to get out of here," Blaire said, a hint of urgency belaying the calm tone.

"Rini? Rini? Can you hear me?" Kat cried as she pulled at her younger sister. The girl unfolded, assented to Kat's insistent pulls, and stood; but her wide, terrified eyes never left the site of her sister, covered in blood, laying motionless on the floor.

"Dammit, Jack! Wake up!" Blaire snapped, slapping her across the cheek. Behind her, Rini cried out. "We don't have time for this now! We have to get out of here!"

"Blaire! Kat! Report!" Dev's voice called out over the com unit.

"We're coming now!" Blaire called back before grabbing Jack and pulling her up. She grunted. "You need to go on a diet, girl."

"You're... just out of... shape..." the weak voice replied, swallowing a moan.

"Well at least your awake, now," Blaire snipped. "C'mon. We gotta get out of here, five minutes ago."

Kat pulled on Carina's arm, dragging her from the room and into a run back down the corridors. Blaire was already at their heels when Jack stopped her.

"Wait, wait," she gasped. "Put me down." Blaire began to balk. "I have to..." She slid down her sister's side, almost collapsing at her feet. But when she stood up, the hiss of a knife pulling free from it's sheath filled the quiet room.

Jack knelt down beside the corpse of her stepbrother. A flick of her wrist dissected flesh from flesh.

"Overcome them with yeses and undermine them with smiles," she hissed. "Agree them to death and destruction and let them swallow you till they vomit and bust wide open..." She stuffed the dismembered bit of anatomy down a gaping mouth, mindless of the tears that were staining her blood-smeared cheeks. "Choke and die."

 

 

Quatre gasped, dragging in each breath of air brought a sharp, piercing pain. He pressed his hand against his side, feeling the stickiness of his blood on the space suit material against his skin. He was trying to concentrate on what was going on around him, but his head hurt, he felt dizzy even though he was laying down. And then...

And then... Trowa was there. Trowa had found him, and he felt like everything was going to be alright now. Around him, the various screens that represented the Mobile Doll programs began fading, Trowa slicing through the power cables.

"I have been fighting all my life," Trowa's calm, reassuring voice drifted over him, giving him a sense of peace, strength. "And each time I have killed my emotions, destroyed my heart. That is why my heart has been dead for so long."

'Trowa...' the blond boy thought, his heart swelling in his chest, bursting with love for the taller boy.

"Perhaps I have no worth as a human being, but I have to stay alive."

"Why?"

The voice sounded dead, void of any emotion, even bitterness. If it hadn't have been female, Quatre wouldn't even have recognized it as Dorothy's.

"Because I have a place to go back to," Trowa answered, finishing with the power cables and moving to where the blond boy was laying on the floor.

"I... I have no where to go anymore..." Dorothy thought, realizing too late that she'd said the words out loud.

"Can you stand up, Quatre?" the lanky boy asked him as he kneeled down close to him and tried to help him up.

"T... Trowa... please," Quatre said, licking his dry, chapped lips. "Never mind me, help her," he sighed, still gasping and short of breath.

Trowa's grip on the smaller boy tightened. "Don't worry," he told the boy who was too kind for his own good. "She won't lose it; she's not that weak."

Quatre smiled, looking up into Trowa's face, focusing on those expressive emerald-like eyes as he was pulled to his feet. "You're right." Trowa helped him to the door where a space helmet lay idle. Quatre picked it up and tossed it back to Dorothy.

"You'd better hurry," Trowa said as he watched her reach out and grab the offering.

Quatre smiled. "Don't die," he told her before Trowa could pull him from the room. He didn't see the girl crumble in on herself.

 

 

They had found their way to the propulsion room with little hindrance, and now the group of five huddled close to the console, ready to impose some damage.

"We have to work quickly," Indra Osiris intoned.

"Yes, we don't have much time," Palwashi Hilel agreed with his tall friend.

"We're working! We're working!" Garret snapped, looking over his friend's shoulder.

"It can't be altered," Samuel said with a look towards his life-long friend and accomplice in crime, "with the usual methods."

"Then we just have to extract the boiler limiter on the propulsion cylinder," Garret replied already reaching over.

"Create an uncontrolled reaction to prevent one?" Samuel Jackson grinned. "That's one of my favorite tactics!"

"No one move, please," a voice called out from behind. The five men turned, Jackson standing up to greet the newcomer.

"Quinze... Long time no se--" He gasped, pain shooting through his arm and lacing up and down his sides. 'Damn, the good one too,' he thought off-handedly.

The four men moved closer to their fallen comrade and unofficial leader of the pack.

"I told you not to move," the white haired man said smugly.

'Now I remember why I never liked the man,' he thought and said, "Go ahead, kill us. That suits us fine." He could feel the others shifting. "Our work here is finished."

"You people have caused me a great deal of trouble," the White Fang official told them.

'As if we weren't doing it intentionally, baka!'

"How many times will you interfere with our Operation Meteor before you're finally satisfied?" Quinze went on.

"The Gundams were enough to avenge Heero Yuy," Jackson gasped, wincing when his arm moved. "Both this time and then."

'They were too much...'

"If you hadn't modified the mission instructions to the Gundam pilots, humanity would have understood sooner!" Quinze shouted at the five old men.

"We value Earth and humanity more," Jackson spat.

"Shut up!"

Garret reached over and depressed the button that would complete their mission. "Looks like you'll have to allow us our interference once more," he replied.

Quinze's gun fired.

 

 

They drew up to their exit; Kat and Carina already in their flight suits. Blaire shoved Jack into her flight suit watching as Kat and Carina went out first. Blaire waited until both girls were safely in the Shooting Star before setting off the detonation that would start the chain reaction. She grabbed Jack, yelling to Dev to go as she snatched onto the cable and locked on.

The Shooting Star pushed away from the condemned satellite, pulling the two girls behind it. In the hanger bay, Kat and the three Sweeper fellows they'd been forced to bring along waited for the pulley to reel in the remaining members of their team while Nita hurried a shocked Carina to the medical room.

"Got 'em!" Kat shouted the minute the hanger doors sealed tight behind Blaire and the room hissed as it re-pressurized. Around them, The Shooting Star thrummed as the engines purred to full power and propelled them far away.

Up front in the cockpit, Dev watched as the satellite ripped into pieces from the inside out--fires dying before they'd burned, drowned out in the vacuum of space.

 

### Part 32: Serenade to Moonlight

 

What was the meaning of it all? The purpose? Where was the justice he had sought to live by? Where was his honor?

He thrust his trident forward, spearing the empty mobile doll, cleaving it in two. His dragon claw shot forward, crunching down on another doll.

'Dolls. Dolls! Empty! Meaningless! Unworthy!'

His breaths were gulps of recycled air as he fought to gain control over his wild emotions.

Where was the calm? The peaceful mind born of justice? Of doing what was right? Where was his purpose!!!

He screamed, enraged at the world, at the situation he found himself in. At Treize for out-maneuvering him, for using him as a means to suicide. At Zechs for forcing them into this position of opposition. At the colonies for not knowing what they wanted. At Earth for thinking they had all the answers. At the scientists who thought that by building machines made for mass destruction, they could fix what was wrong with civilization. At his family, for sacrificing themselves so that he would continue to fight. At Merien for being so headstrong and determined to have her own way. At his father for never caring about what *he* wanted to do. At his mother for not being there from him. At Heero for being everything he wanted to be. At Duo, for not loving him even a fraction as much as he loved the braided boy.

::Peacemillion and Libra are moving away from the Earth::

Wufei looked up at his view screens. Sure enough, the two ships were being propelled in the opposite direction of the blue planet. And then he frowned.

::A portion of the Libra is falling!::

::Shit! It isn't over yet?!::

::We have to destroy it! It would devastate the Earth!::

Wufei was already throwing his thrusters into overdrive when a flash of light to the left caught his attention. He smirked, be-lining to pick up the Buster Rifle where it floated in space. 'Didn't your mother ever tell you not to leave your toys lying around, Mr. Yuy?'

 

 

A full day at the health spa--no, a week. A complete get-away. Just him and Trow--

Quatre winced and gasped as Sandrock tiltered and threw him against the harness, tearing at the gapping wound in his side. He squeezed his eyes shut against the burning pain as it tore through him.

Mud bath, seaweed wrap, full body massage...

The blond boy fingered his com unit again, hoping that this time, the Japanese youth he was trying to reach would hear him. "Heero!?"

"Quatre?" the boy in question responding and Quatre felt a bit of his tension melt away.

"Thank Allah!" he praised before filling the other boy in. "This block is still plummeting towards Earth--"

"Understood," Heero cut the boy off before he could say more. "I'll destroy the propulsion system."

'Yeah, you do that,' Duo thought as he swung his thermal scythe through the metal walls of Libra. "Before this chunk falls to Earth, we'll turn it into lots of little itty bitty pieces," he said aloud.

"Never give up hope," Trowa's voice filtered through the com. "That is what I learned from this suit."

Duo arched his scythe again. 'Yeah? Really? I learned it's fun to be me.'

"Our chances of success are almost nothing," Quatre was saying. "But it's better than doing nothing!"

Duo was about to comment when he heard the blond boy cry out--followed by the almost joyous sounds of cheers.

"Are you okay, Master Quatre?"

Duo whooped in delight, hearing the voice of a friend and ally. And then another voice fed over his speakers and his 'whoop' blazed into the desire to jump up and do a jig.

"I've given Heero the buster rifle," Wufei told them, already making his way free from the falling chunk. The other forty-three mobile suits were not far behind him.

::Libra has infiltrated the atmosphere!::

Duo began knawling his lip, eyes unblinking as he study the scene playing out before him. 'C'mon Heero... don't fuck up now... I swear, I'll never forgive you if--'

::A unit is advancing ahead of it!::

'Don't die, Heero. Don't die, Heero. Don't die, Heero,' the blond boy prayed as he watched the struggling suit. 'ZERO protect him.'

::It's... Wing Zero!::

'No shit, Sherlock,' Trowa thought. 'Now would be a very bad time to try and self-destruct, Heero...'

::Heero?!::

::He's going to attempt the impossible!::

::No! He can do it!::

'Damn right he can do it, woman,' Wufei thought. 'You *better* do it, Yuy...'

The piece of Libra exploded before their watching eyes and they held their breath, waiting... waiting... waiting...

::Heero....?::

"There he is!" Duo shouted, already spurring DeathScythe Hell into action. "You really did it, Heero!"

Wufei humphfed, but couldn't hide his smile of approval. "Of course he did." He held back as the others rushed forward to meeting the returning Gundam.

"He's definitely something," Trowa said as he followed his comrades.

Quatre smiled, one hand pressed to his chest, eyes closed as he allowed himself to *feel*. "I understand now... He's the soul of space..."

"Mission Accomplished," the Japanese boy told them as they swarmed around him like excited not-so-little bees.

 

 

She paused just outside the door a moment after it slid open for her, looking in, almost afraid to enter. And then she stepped in, allowing the door to slide shut behind her, allowing the darkness of the room to enfold around her.

"Rini?" she called out, her voice only a timid whisper.

The bed shifted, the sheets rustling. Careful not to bump into anything in the small room, she made her way to the bed, and then folded herself over so she was kneeling beside it. A tentative hand reached out and stroked the soft strands of chestnut hair, tracing them from top of head to bottom of shoulders.

"Rini...?" she tried again. Her throat grew tight with tears, her eyes red and stinging.

"Why?" the girl's voice cracked. "Why did you let him do that to you?" she repeated after a moment of unbearable silence.

The two sisters found themselves enveloped in each other's arms, crying and sniffling as they held on to one another tight.

"It's going to be okay," Jack whispered. "It's all going to be okay, now. You'll see. It's all going to be okay..."

 

End of Dance with the Devil.

Next: In the Pale Moonlight


End file.
